Helicopter carrying Colombia’s President Duque struck by bullets in assault

A helicopter carrying Colombia’s President Ivan Duque and different officers, together with Defense Minister Diego Molano, was struck by a number of bullets in an assault on Friday. The incident came about whereas the president’s helicopter was flying by means of Colombia’s Catatumbo area towards the town of Cucuta. (Credit: Reuters)A helicopter carrying Colombia’s President Ivan Duque and others was struck by a number of bullets in an assault on Friday, he stated in a video message.

The incident came about whereas the president’s helicopter was flying by means of Colombia’s Catatumbo area towards the town of Cucuta, capital of the nation’s Norte de Santander province, Duque stated.”What’s clear is that this is a cowardly attack where bullet holes can be seen in the presidential aircraft,” Duque stated.Read | Car bomb explosion at Colombia army base injures 36As properly as Duque, the helicopter was carrying different officers together with Defense Minister Diego Molano, Interior Minister Daniel Palacios, and governor of Norte de Santander Silvano Serrano.No one was injured within the incident, a spokesman for the presidency stated.Security personnel have been given clear directions to seek out these behind the assault on the helicopter, the president added.The troubled Catatumbo area, on Colombia’s border with Venezuela, is dwelling to intensive coca crops, the chief ingredient of cocaine. It is the place guerrillas of the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) function, former FARC fighters who reject a 2016 peace cope with the federal government, together with armed felony teams concerned in drug trafficking.This month a automobile bomb was detonated at a army base utilized by the thirtieth Army Brigade in Cucuta, injuring Colombian troops and US army advisers.While Molano stated the assault may have been carried out by the ELN, the insurgent group stated it denied having any function within the bombing.Also learn | Colombia ex-President asks forgiveness for military’s extrajudicial killingsClick right here for IndiaToday.in’s full protection of the coronavirus pandemic.