BOGOTA: Colombia’s forensic institute said on Sunday it was examining 19 bodies after a massive roadway explosion the day before, which authorities have blamed on an armed group ahead of next month’s elections.

Buses and vans were left mangled in the blast on Saturday on the Pan-American Highway, in the restive southwestern Cauca department. Several cars were flipped over by the force of the explosion and a large crater was blown out of the roadway.

The department’s governor on Saturday evening provided a death toll of 14, with more than 38 injured, but the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences said Sunday morning it had begun the examination of “nineteen (19) bodies.”

Military chief Hugo Lopez told a news conference on Saturday that the bomb had exploded after assailants stop­­ped traffic by blocking the road with a bus and ano­ther vehicle. “It is a terrorist attack against the civilian population,” Lopez said.

The attack comes just over one month ahead of national elections, in which voters will pick a successor to leftist President Gustavo Petro.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2026