FARC-EP Dissidents Claim Responsibility For Attack On President Duque's Helicopter

BOGOTA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th July, 2021) The middle Magdalena Bloc of the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the helicopter of Colombian President Ivan Duque last month.

In a video released on Sunday, the group also claimed responsibility for the June attack on the army base in Cucuta, as well as other terror acts, and said that it was going to continue its attacks.

Duque said on Twitter on Sunday that the government of Colombia was going to "continue to strike" the terrorists. "They do not intimidate us," Duque said, claiming that the Sunday "gibberish" video released by the Middle Magdalena Bloc was recorded in Venezuela.

Colombia's Prosecutor General Francisco Barbosa said earlier this month that FARC rebels were the ones responsible for the attack on Duque's helicopter and the assault on a military unit in Cucuta.

On June 25, Duque's helicopter was shot at from the ground, though no casualties resulted. A separate attack occurred in mid-June, when over 35 military personnel were injured in a car bomb explosion at an army base in Cucuta.

Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano has said that the attacks on the president and the military unit were planned in Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has stressed that his country is a peaceful one and Colombia should search for those responsible for the attacks at home and not in Venezuela.