At least 7 killed in explosions and attacks outside police stations in southwest Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Seven people, including two police officers, were killed in Colombia on Tuesday, as rebel groups detonated bombs near police stations in the city of Cali and the neighboring Cauca province, Colombia's National Police said in a statement.

Military and police spokespeople blamed the attacks on the FARC-EMC, a group led by former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who broke away from the group after it signed a peace deal with the government in 2016.

Authorities said the rebels placed bombs in cars and motorcycles that were parked near police stations, while also waging some attacks with gunfire and grenades. Colombia's police said there were a total of 24 attacks on Tuesday in the city Cali and the surrounding provinces of Cauca and Valle del Cauca, in which 28 people were also injured, including 19 civilians.

The attacks on the police stations come just days after Miguel Uribe, a conservative presidential candidate, was shot during a rally in Bogota. Authorities say they are investigating who was behind the attack on Uribe, who is in a critical condition in hospital in Bogota.

Colombia’s government has struggled to contain violence in urban and rural areas as several rebel groups try to take over territory abandoned by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia following its peace deal with the government.

Peace talks between the FARC-EMC faction and the government broke down last year after a series of attacks on indigenous communities.

The government is currently holding talks with another faction of the group, that is led by commander Luis Alberto Alban, known also as Marcos Calarca.

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