A suspected remotely detonated explosive device ripped open vehicles on the Pan-American Highway in Cauca

A massive roadside blast tore through a bus and other vehicles on Colombia’s Pan-American Highway on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and leaving more than a dozen others wounded in what authorities called a terrorist attack.

The explosion struck the El Tunel sector in Cajibio, Cauca, blowing a huge crater into one of the country’s most important transport corridors and scattering wreckage across the road.

Videos from the scene show a bus completely torn apart, with its engine propelled with such force that it landed on another bus, while multiple other vehicles traveling along the same road at the time were also damaged.

Early official statements put the toll at seven dead and at least 17 injured, but later reporting said several of the wounded died from their injuries, pushing the death toll to 12, mostly local civilians and Indigenous people traveling on the bus.

Fue activado un artefacto explosivo en la vía Panamericana, en el sector de El Túnel, Cajibío, en un ataque indiscriminado contra la población civil que, de manera preliminar, deja 7 civiles muertos y más de 20 heridos de gravedad. Es una tragedia que nos desgarra como… pic.twitter.com/4BQ0r6CnUc

— OCTAVIO GUZMÁN (@OctavioGuzmanGu) April 25, 2026

Colombian President Gustavo Petro blamed the attack on dissident factions of the former FARC guerrilla movement operating under Ivan Mordisco. In a post on X, Petro called the perpetrators “terrorists, fascists and drug traffickers,” demanding a worldwide manhunt against what he described as a narcoterrorist structure.