At least 13 people were killed and 17 wounded in an explosives ​attack in western Colombia on Saturday, a police ‌source told Reuters, in violence authorities have blamed on dissidents of the FARC guerrilla group.

The attack took place on the Pan-American ​Highway in the El Tunel area of Cajibio ​municipality, about 35 km (22 miles) from Popayan, the capital of Cauca province, according to authorities.

Cauca Governor Octavio ​Guzman said on X that the attack was one of several ​criminal actions reported in the province on Saturday.

“ Cauca cannot continue to face this barbarity alone. We are facing a terrorist escalation that ​demands immediate responses. We demand forceful, sustained and effective ​action from the national government in the face of the grave ‌public order crisis we are experiencing,” he added.

Presidential candidate Paloma Valencia, a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Centre party who is from Cauca, called the attack “ terrorism” carried out ​by the dissident ​FARC faction, which rejected a 2016 peace deal.

“ President Gustavo Petro’s government cannot continue minimising the violence ​or dismantling the state,” she said. “ We demand ​immediate action, ⁠full backing for our Armed Forces and police, and concrete results.”

Petro, a former rebel himself whose term as president is ​nearing an end, has pursued a “ total ​peace” policy with guerrillas through negotiations and intermittent ceasefires.