The Tolima governor’s office reported four deaths, 18 injuries and damage to 177 homes after an extraordinary security council on Monday. The Associated Press independently reported four deaths, including a two-month-old infant, and quoted Planadas Mayor Juan Camilo Hueje on damage to the hospital and nearby homes. The governor’s office said authorities’ preliminary account implicated the Ismael Ruiz and Gerónimo Galeano structures; that attribution has not been independently verified. Early reports described the attack’s method differently, so this article does not present one account as established fact. Searches for actual-event images found photographs attributed to local publishers but no reuse licence; the Tolima government’s portal states that it reserves rights to its content. Both images are dated context photographs, not images of the attack. The lead shows Planadas from the air on June 14, 2021, photographed by Felviper and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The inline image shows a different Colombian air base in Villavicencio on Nov. 1, 2025, photographed by Tenochiclan241 and dedicated under CC0 1.0. The lead was proportionally resized to 1,600 pixels wide, stripped of metadata and re-encoded as progressive JPEG quality 84; the inline image was stripped of metadata and re-encoded at quality 84 at its original 1,186 × 724 size. Neither image is cropped or content-retouched. The lead derivative is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0; the inline CC0 image is in the public domain under its dedication.
Four people died in the overnight attack
Explosives detonated near a military base in Planadas, a town in southern Colombia’s Tolima department, on Sunday night, killing four civilians, including a two-month-old infant. The Tolima governor’s office reported 18 people injured after an emergency security meeting on Monday; the Associated Press also reported four deaths, citing President Abelardo de la Espriella.
The governor’s office said three devices exploded at about 9:45 p.m. local time on Nov. 1. Early accounts differed on how the attack was carried out, so its precise method remains unclear in the reporting available.
Homes and a hospital were affected
The Tolima government said the blast damaged 177 homes and injured 18 people. Three of the wounded were transferred to other medical centers for specialized care, it said.
Planadas Mayor Juan Camilo Hueje told the AP that the nearby hospital and homes were hit. A school was being used to treat injured people, the mayor said, underscoring the strain on local emergency services after the attack.
Responsibility has not been established
The governor’s office said authorities’ preliminary account pointed to the Ismael Ruiz and Gerónimo Galeano structures, armed groups described as FARC dissidents. That attribution remains an official allegation, not an independently verified finding.
Planadas is in a rural region where armed groups continue to compete for territory. The AP reported that violence has risen in some countryside areas as smaller groups moved into territory left after the 2016 FARC peace agreement. The latest attack adds to the security pressures facing communities there, while investigators work to establish who carried it out.
Sources
2 references
- The Associated PressAttack on Colombian military base kills 4 civilians, including a 2-month-oldIndependent report on the Sunday night attack, deaths and damage to the hospital and homes, with details attributed to local officials. · 2026-11-02
- Government of TolimaGovernor convenes security council after Planadas attackMonday security-council update reporting four deaths, 18 injuries, 177 affected homes and preliminary official suspicions about the perpetrators. · 2026-11-02
