Colombia has been rocked by a string of coordinated bomb and gun attacks that killed at least seven people and wounded at least 50 across the country’s south-west, deepening a security crisis roiling the Andean country.

Police said attackers launched 19 attacks on targets in Cali – the country’s third largest city – and several nearby towns, hitting police posts, municipal buildings and civilian targets.

The national police chief, Carlos Fernando Triana, said assailants had attacked targets with car bombs, motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone.

“There are two police officers dead, and a number of members of the public are also dead,” he said.

In Cali and the towns of Villa Rica, Guachinte and Corinto, AFP journalists witnessed the tangled wreckage of vehicles surrounded by scorched debris.

The assaults came days after the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate in Bogotá put the country on edge.

Many Colombians are fearful of a return to the violence of the 1980s and 1990s, when cartel attacks, guerrilla violence and political assassinations were commonplace.

In the town of Corinto, resident Luz Amparo was at home when the blast gutted her bakery.

“We thought it was an earthquake,” she told AFP. “My husband said: ‘No, they are shooting.’”

Her phone began to ring off the hook, and she went to check on her store. As she rounded the corner, neighbors began to look in her direction.

“Everything was levelled,” she said.

Police and experts blamed Tuesday’s attacks on a dissident faction of the once-powerful Farc guerrilla group.

Security expert Elizabeth Dickenson of the International Crisis Group said the attacks were likely the work of a group known as the Central General Staff (EMC).

“This is a particularly well-coordinated offensive. It really demonstrates the capacity that the group has built,” she told AFP.

“And I think very alarmingly it demonstrates their ability to conduct operations in the metropolitan area of Cali.”

Dickenson said the group may be trying to stop an ongoing military operation that is reported to have injured or killed the group’s veteran leader, known as “Iván Mordisco”.

“They are trying to raise the cost of that military initiative for the government,” said Dickenson.

In a statement on Tuesday, the EMC warned the public to stay away from military and police installations, but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

The attacks come three days after conservative senator Miguel Uribe, 39, was shot twice in the head at close range by an alleged hitman while campaigning in Bogotá.

On Tuesday, a 15-year-old pleaded not guilty to carrying out the attempted assassination. The government believes he was a hired gun.

Uribe remains in critical condition, the hospital treating him said on Tuesday.

“No family in Colombia should be going through this,” Uribe’s wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, told reporters outside the hospital. “There is no name for this – it’s not pain, it’s not horror, it’s not sadness.”

A wave of explosions has rocked southern Colombia, killing one and injuring dozens in the city of Cali. Authorities said there were also attacks on police posts in nearby towns.

At least two people were killed on Tuesday after a string of bomb explosions targeted police posts in the southwestern Colombian city of Cali, officials said.

Spanish news agency EFE reported that at least 36 people were injured in the explosions.

While it remains unclear who carried out the apparently coordinated attacks, guerrilla groups that split from the once-powerful FARC militia are known to be active in the area.

What do we know about the attacks in Cali?

The blasts occurred in the neighborhoods of Melendez, Manuela Beltran and Los Mangos. One of the bombs is believed to have been planted on a motorcycle, according to officials.

Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder stated on social media platform X that emergency services were responding. “Our security forces are on the scene and health teams are on alert in case of further incidents,” he said.

Footage from the attacks showed several people lying injured in the streets while bystanders and police attempted to assist them.

The bombings came just days after the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate in Bogota, a brazen attack that has put the country on edge. Conservative Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, 39, was shot twice in the head at close range by a 15-year-old alleged attacker while campaigning Saturday in Bogota.

How far have the attacks spread?

Another explosion was also reported in Jamundi, a municipality near Cali.

Additional attacks took place in the neighboring department of Cauca, where two car bombs exploded in the towns of El Bordo and Corinto, causing material damage but no casualties. In the town of Caloto, a police officer was killed by a sniper, and another explosion struck the toll booth in Villa Rica, also in Cauca, about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from Cali.

The Colombian Army’s Third Division, which operates in the region, blamed the attacks on dissident FARC faction led by Nestor Gregorio Vera, alias Ivan Mordisco.

“We express our full support for the police, who were the direct target of these cowardly attacks, and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the defense and security of our citizens,” the military said in a statement.

The attacks came just one day before President Gustavo Petro was scheduled to visit Cali to participate in a public demonstration organized by labor unions in support of his proposed labor reform. The reform faces legislative setbacks and may be pushed through via a national referendum.

Edited by: Zac Crellin

Southwest Colombia was rocked by a string of explosions and gun attacks that left at least three people dead on Tuesday, police said, in what appeared to be a coordinated attack designed to sow terror.

The attacks hit Cali – the country’s third largest city – and several nearby towns, targeting police stations and other municipal buildings.

In the town of Corinto, an AFP journalist witnessed the tangled wreckage of a car that had exploded next to a scorched and badly damaged municipal building.

The head of police Carlos Fernando Triana told La FM radio that assailants had attacked targets with car bombs, motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone.

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“There are two police officers dead, and a number of members of the public are also dead,” he said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but guerrillas who broke away from the once-powerful FARC militia are known to operate in the area.

Series of explosions kills at least 18 people in Baghdad and western city of Ramadi.

Other blasts in the Bab Al-Muadham and Doura areas of the capital killed at least three people.

Later, two homemade bombs exploded in Huseiniya district in Northern Baghdad, killing five people.

In total, 100 people were injured in Tuesday’s attacks.

Ramadi emergency

In a second straight day of deadly attacks in Ramadi, three people were killed and 10 wounded in a double car bombing outside a restaurant, hospital officials and police said.

The fronts of the restaurants were severely damaged in the blasts and blood stained the ground nearby, a Reuters witness said. Streets emptied amid fears of another attack.

At least 10 people were killed on Monday, including seven police officers and a soldier in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, and in the northern city of Mosul.

A state of emergency was declared after the latest attack and vehicles were banned from the city, police said.

Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but attacks reached a peak in the weeks before US combat troops withdrew from the centres of Iraqi towns and cities.

An estimated 437 Iraqis were killed in June, the highest death toll in 11 months, and the near daily attacks have continued in July.

Tuesday’s attacks came as Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, set off for Washington to meet Barack Obama, the US president.

The White House has said Obama will meet al-Maliki on Wednesday and talks will focus on the political reconciliation that is necessary for Iraq to make progress after years of war.