Sawt Falasteen - Seven dead as Colombia hit with wave of bombings and gun attacks

Attackers struck targets in Cali -- the country's third-largest city -- and several nearby towns, hitting police posts, municipal buildings and civilian targets.

National Police chief Carlos Fernando Triana said assailants -- suspected to be a local guerrilla group -- had attacked 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. Police later put the toll at seven dead and 28 more injured.

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

The assaults came days after the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate in Bogota, a brazen attack that 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.

Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said the government had received unverified "proof" of possible guerrilla involvement in the attack on Senator Miguel Uribe.

- 'Well-coordinated offensive' -

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

"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, the neighbors began to look in her direction.

"Everything was leveled," she said.

Police and experts blamed the attacks on a dissident faction of the once-powerful FARC guerrilla group.

Security expert Elizabeth Dickinson 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."

Dickinson 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 "Ivan Mordisco."

"They are trying to raise the cost of that military initiative for the government," said Dickinson.

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 Uribe, 39, was shot twice in the head at close range by an alleged hitman while campaigning in Bogota.

That attack has stunned Colombians, prompted speculation about who was responsible and raised questions about President Gustavo Petro's response.

Petro has taken to social media to speculate that the hit was ordered by an international "mafia" and to claim that Uribe's security detail was suspiciously reduced the day he was shot.

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

X.Habash--SF-PST