Colombia’s Petro accuses Ecuador of bombing near border

Leaders of Colombia and Ecuador trade allegations after Gustavo Petro says 27 charred bodies found on country’s border.Bogota, Colombia – Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said that 27 charred bodies were discovered on his country’s joint border with Ecuador, just one day after suggesting the Ecuadorean military may have bombed Colombian territory.“The bombings along the Colombia-Ecuador border do not appear to be the work of armed groups—they don’t have aircraft—nor of the Colombian security forces. I did not give that order,” wrote Petro in a post on X on Tuesday morning.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Ecuador prepares for attack on ‘criminal economy’ with Trump backinglist 2 of 3US military kills six in strike on alleged drug boat in the Eastern Pacificlist 3 of 3Amid Iran war, Trump administration eyes military efforts in Latin Americaend of listThe accusation comes amid a US-backed Ecuadorean military campaign against armed groups in the region launched earlier this month; Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa maintained that all strikes have occurred within his country’s borders.The dispute began during a cabinet meeting on Monday night, where Petro speculated about the origins of a bomb which he said was “dropped from an aeroplane” near Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador.“We’re going to thoroughly investigate the circumstances – it happened very close to the border with Ecuador – which somewhat confirms my suspicion, but we need to investigate thoroughly: they’re bombing us from Ecuador, and it’s not the armed groups,” said the president.Later on Tuesday, Colombia’s Ministry of National Defence issued a statement saying security forces and experts had been deployed to the area “to assess the condition of this explosive device in order to determine its origin and proceed with its destruction”.Noboa dismissed Petro’s accusations on Tuesday morning, writing on X: “President Petro, ⁠your declarations are false, we ⁠are acting in ⁠our territory, not yours.”