![\"EPA-EFE\/Shutterstock](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/bf2c\/live\/0e1a0cb0-4633-11f0-869e-cdf4262cfb36.jpg.webp\")
EPA-EFE\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nAt least seven people have died in a wave of bomb and gun attacks in south-western Colombia, according to local media reports.<\/p>\n
Two police officers were said to be among those killed in the attacks, which targeted Cali, the country’s third-largest city, and several nearby towns.<\/p>\n
Car bombs, motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone were reportedly used in the attacks. The Colombian Ministry of Defence said 19 attacks had taken place.<\/p>\n
Local media have linked some of the attacks to a faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)<\/a>, a once-powerful guerrilla group. The BBC has not been able to independently verify this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Police stations, municipal buildings and civilian targets were hit as an escalating security crisis grips the South American country. <\/p>\n Police put the toll at seven dead, according to Reuters and Agence France-Presse, while the number of injured ranged from 28 to more than 50.<\/p>\n In a statement posted to social media, the Colombian Ministry of Defence said there were 12 attacks in the Cauca region and seven in the Valle del Cauca region, the ministry said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The ministry described the violence as “a desperate reaction by illegal armed groups to the massive operations of the [military and police], which have devastated their illicit structures and economies”.<\/p>\n The mayor of the region’s biggest city, Cali, said the city had returned to 1989, when it was blighted by the drugs trade and cartel violence.<\/p>\n