Colombia drone attacks kill soldier, wound 3 in Cauca

A Colombian soldier was killed and three others wounded on Wednesday when explosives dropped from drones hit rural Buenos Aires, Cauca, in an attack the army preliminarily blamed on FARC dissidents. The soldier was identified as Alejandro López Quintero Source: lavozar. Separately, the town of El Tambo, Cauca, came under a sustained drone assault on the same day, with residents reporting more than 18 explosions targeting the police station Source: infobae. No official report of police casualties has been released Source: elcolombiano.

Drone threat

The attacks highlight the rapid evolution of drone warfare in Colombia. Armed groups have shifted from using drones for surveillance to modifying commercial drones to carry explosives, either as bomb-droppers or as direct impact weapons Source: elcolombiano. The Ombudsman's office reported that between January and May, drone attacks killed at least 21 people and wounded 145, a 146% increase over the same period last year Source: lavozar. Groups are also using fiber-optic transmission to evade signal jammers and coordinating swarm attacks Source: elcolombiano.

Government response

President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office in early August, has vowed to intensify military operations and end peace talks. "In my Government it is absolutely forbidden to disguise with euphemisms the nature of those who terrorize the people at gunpoint and dynamite. They are terrorists and that is how we will treat them. There is no room for dialogue here," he said Source: lavozar. He plans to build maximum-security prisons modeled on El Salvador's, with private-sector funding Source: lavozar. The military is also developing counter-drone capabilities, including the DRAGOM system Source: elcolombiano.