Colombian authorities describe the assault in Cucuta, a metropolis on the border with Venezuela, as a ‘terrorist’ act.
Two law enforcement officials and a suspected attacker have been killed in bomb blasts at an airport in northeastern Colombia close to the border with Venezuela.
The suspected attacker managed to cross a wire fence to entry the runaway on the Camilo Daza Worldwide Airport within the border metropolis of Cucuta, Colombian police stated on Tuesday.
Colombian Defence Minister Diego Molano described it as a “terrorist” act and advised the assault might have been coordinated by Colombian rebels based mostly in Venezuela.
Relations between Colombia and Venezuela have been tense in recent times, whereas Cucuta has been a hub for folks fleeing Venezuela into Colombia and for commerce between the 2 nations.
“We reject and condemn this terrorist act that goals, as at all times, to destabilise” the nation, Molano stated.
Rebels from the Nationwide Liberation Military (ELN) and dissident fighters from the disarmed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) insurgent group function within the space, he added.
These organisations “typically plan, finance and develop their assaults from Venezuelan soil and sadly, look to perpetrate them in Colombian territory”, Molano advised Colombia’s Caracol TV.
Police stated the primary blast occurred at 5am native time (10:00 GMT) as a person carrying explosives tried to climb over a fence that separates the airport’s runway from one of many metropolis’s neighbourhoods.
The person died immediately within the blast and his physique components have been scattered across the space. About an hour later, a second blast occurred when police have been trying to find a suspicious package deal, police stated.
“Our explosive specialists, having surveyed the world, discovered a suitcase” that exploded, killing two officers, stated Cucuta police chief Colonel Giovanni Madarriaga.
The explosions occurred close to the airport’s runway however the passenger terminal was not affected. Flights, nevertheless, have been suspended and passengers have been evacuated.
Cucuta is the capital of North Santander state, a border area that has not too long ago seen a surge in combating between insurgent teams and drug trafficking gangs which can be vying for management of coca crops and trafficking routes.
In June, a automobile bomb was set off at a navy base on the outskirts of the town, the place US navy advisers have been working. Then in August, a bomb was set off exterior a police station, injuring 14 folks.
Colombian President Ivan Duque’s helicopter was additionally shot at throughout a latest go to to the town. He was unhurt within the assault.
