Truck Bomb in Planadas Kills Four Including Infant as Colombia Escalates Against FARC Dissidents

A dump truck loaded with explosives detonated in the Aeropuerto neighborhood of Planadas, Tolima, late on November 1, 2026, killing four civilians including a two-month-old baby girl and wounding at least 15 others. The blast destroyed roughly 80 percent of the local hospital and damaged homes across three blocks.

Tolima Governor Adriana Magali Matiz confirmed the toll in statements to local media and on social media. She said the truck had been moved from the nearby municipality of Ataco and was intended for a military base. The attackers miscalculated the timing or placement, so the vehicle exploded in a residential area instead. Matiz named the Gerónimo Galeano front of FARC dissidents, under the command of alias Iván Mordisco, as the group responsible.

The attack fits a pattern that has intensified since President Abelardo de la Espriella took office and ordered expanded military operations against remaining armed groups. On November 1 a separate motorcycle bomb in Huila province killed one police officer and injured six more. Local officials say the groups are responding to pressure by striking both security forces and civilian targets in the south of the department.

Planadas sits in a region long contested by FARC remnants after the 2016 peace deal. The Gerónimo Galeano front has carried out multiple attacks against the public force in recent months. Military intelligence sources told Colombian outlets that the device used cylinders and possibly drones for delivery, though the main charge was the truck itself. Investigators are still examining the exact composition and origin of the explosives.

The hospital in Planadas is the primary medical facility for the municipality. Its near-total destruction leaves residents dependent on temporary field clinics or longer trips to larger towns. Governor Matiz said the department is coordinating emergency medical support and has raised alerts for possible further attacks in other southern municipalities.

President de la Espriella has not yet issued a detailed statement on the Planadas bombing. His administration has framed the ongoing operations as necessary to dismantle residual illegal armed structures that continue to control territory and revenue streams from illicit economies. Critics of the hard-line approach argue that intensified military action without parallel negotiations risks higher civilian casualties, a pattern visible in the current cycle of attacks.

Four deaths in a single residential strike, including an infant, mark one of the higher civilian tolls from a single incident in Tolima this year. The sequence from intended military target to hospital and homes illustrates how imprecise the groups’ methods remain even when they attempt more sophisticated delivery. For residents of Planadas the immediate questions are medical capacity and whether further truck or drone strikes are already planned.

Colombian authorities have not released full identities of the dead beyond the infant. Recovery of the area continues under security cordons while bomb disposal teams check for secondary devices. The incident adds to the list of attacks that have occurred since the new government accelerated operations against the dissidents.