Tue Jun 10 23:11:00 UTC 2025: **News Article:**
**Coordinated Attacks Rock Colombia, Raising Fears of Escalating Violence**
**Cali, Colombia – June 11, 2025** – A wave of coordinated bomb and gun attacks across southwestern Colombia on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, has left at least seven people dead and 28 injured, plunging the nation deeper into a security crisis. The attacks, targeting police posts, municipal buildings, and civilian areas in Cali and surrounding towns, have ignited fears of a return to the violent era of the 1980s and 90s, marked by cartel violence and political assassinations.
Police Chief Carlos Fernando Triana attributed the attacks to a suspected local guerrilla group, employing car bombs, motorcycle bombs, rifle fire, and a possible drone. The Central General Staff (EMC), a dissident faction of the former FARC guerrilla group, is suspected to be behind the attacks. Security expert Elizabeth Dickinson of the International Crisis Group said the coordinated offensive demonstrated the EMC’s capacity and its ability to operate in urban areas.
These attacks come just days after a brazen assassination attempt on a presidential candidate in Bogota. Senator Miguel Uribe was shot twice in the head, allegedly by a 15-year-old hired gun, further unnerving the nation.
President Gustavo Petro’s efforts to negotiate peace with the EMC have faltered, and Dickinson suggests the attacks may be an attempt to retaliate against an ongoing military operation targeting the group’s leader, Ivan Mordisco. The EMC has warned the public to stay away from military and police installations but has not claimed responsibility.
The attacks have stunned Colombians, prompting speculation about who was responsible and raising questions about the president’s response.
First Piper 