ISLAMABAD (AP) — Attempts at ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran fell flat after Tehran’s top diplomat left Pakistan and President Donald Trump’s envoys stayed away after he told them not to travel to Islamabad.

The U.S. president indicated the ball was now in Iran’s court.

“If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!” Trump said on social media.

The negotiations were meant to follow historic face-to-face talks earlier this month between the U.S., led by Vice President JD Vance, and Iran, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

But Iranian officials have questioned how they can trust the U.S. after its forces started blockading Iranian ports in response to Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, on Saturday evening, two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Araghchi went on to Oman, on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz and a country that had mediated peace talks in the past. He said he would return to Pakistan again on Sunday before heading to Russia, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.

“Shared Iran’s position concerning workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran. Have yet to see if the U.S. is truly serious about diplomacy,” Araghchi said on social media about his talks in Pakistan about what he called Iran’s red lines for negotiations.

Meanwhile, another ceasefire — between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group — was shaken on Saturday as each side fired at the other and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to “vigorously attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.”

Last week, Trump announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire with Iran. It has paused most fighting, but the economic fallout is growing, two months into the war as global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertilizer and other supplies are disrupted by the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Both sides have continued to make military threats. Iran’s joint military command on Saturday warned that “if the U.S. continues its aggressive military actions, including naval blockades, banditry, and piracy” it will face a “strong response.”

Even before Saturday’s developments, Iran’s foreign ministry said any talks would be indirect and that Pakistani officials would act as go-betweens.

Trump later told journalists that within 10 minutes of him canceling the trip to Pakistan of his envoys — Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — that Iran had sent a “much better” proposal. He did no elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon.”

Contentious points in talks also include Iran’s enriched uranium and the Strait of Hormuz standoff, as well as concerns about Iran’s missile program and its support for armed proxies in the region.

Tehran has noted that indirect talks with the U.S. last year and early this year over its nuclear program, the issue long at the center of tensions, ended with Iran being attacked by the U.S. and Israel, adding to its wariness.

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, is nearly 50% higher than when the war began because of Iran’s grip on the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes in peacetime.

Iran attacked three ships last week, while the U.S. maintains a blockade on Iranian ports. Trump has ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that could be placing mines.

Also Saturday, Iran resumed commercial flights from Tehran’s international airport for the first time since the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. Flights were scheduled to depart for Istanbul, Oman’s capital of Muscat and the Saudi city of Medina, according to state-run television.

Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,496 people in Lebanon, where the Israel-Hezbollah fighting resumed two days after the Iran war started. Also, 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.

Trump announced Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.

But Israel struck southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing at least six people it said were Hezbollah militants, and several rockets and drones were launched at Israel from Lebanon.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

BERLIN (AP) — For people living with disabilities, barriers to tourism can range from the obvious — such as an out-of-service elevator — to the unseen, like an outing that’s too long or a setting that’s too loud.

As the baby boom generation ages, the travel industry is increasingly catering to older adults with the time and money to sightsee internationally and who sometimes need additional assistance. Truly inclusive accessibility, though, accommodates a much greater range of tourists, from individuals with physical disabilities to people with autism or dementia.

To better serve visitors with visible or invisible disabilities, museums and other cultural institutions worldwide have added specialized guides and barrier-free tours, some made possible by advances in technology.

These include sign-language tours for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, touch-based events for guests with blindness or low vision, and programs designed for people on the autism spectrum. Tourism agencies dedicated to serving disabled travelers have sprung up, too.

Offering barrier-free tours shows people with disabilities they are welcome in cultural spaces, said Ashley Grady, an accessibility program specialist at the Office of Visitor Accessibility of Washington’s Smithsonian Institution.

The services are a way of saying, “we’ve thought of you,” Grady said. “We want you to come to our museums. We want you to see yourselves reflected in our staff and our collections. And we want to make these programs as accessible as possible for you, your family, your loved ones, your friends.”

Still, gaps remain. Ivor Ambrose, managing director of the nonprofit European Network for Accessible Tourism, said there’s a continuing lack of awareness around the different levels of accessibility that travelers need.

“This is actually a really big market and an opportunity, which is still not fulfilled by the operators in all these different areas of tourism,” he said.

Here is advice from several experts about how to take advantage of barrier-free options for yourself or someone else.

Josh Grisdale, the founder of Accessible Japan, a website that publishes databases, resources and guides to navigating the country for people with disabilities, has cerebral palsy and uses a power wheelchair. Before traveling to a new place, he peruses Reddit, watches travel videos on YouTube — even if the person filming didn’t require accommodations — and browses Google’s Street View to look for stairs or other features that aren’t suitable for wheelchairs.

Facebook can be helpful, but tips often are buried in private groups that aren’t searchable, Grisdale said. If a hotel has a concierge, he recommends working with them and calling ahead to ask if a place you’d like to visit has the proper accessibility. Most museums and cultural institutions have written guides and other resources online detailing their barrier-free options.

Grisdale also created the online platform tabifolk, which crowdsources knowledge about accessible travel from around the world. A lack of such information can make researching and planning a trip even more stressful, so he wanted there to be a place where people could help each other through their lived experiences.

“Even though I’m in a wheelchair and I’ve had a disability my whole life, there’s things that I don’t know about other disabilities,” he said.

In Africa, proper planning is crucial for people with disabilities to be able to enjoy what the continent has to offer, such as going on a safari or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, according to Joanne Ndirangu, the founder and director of accessible tourism agency Scout Group Agency.

Ndirangu promotes and advocates for expanding accessible tourism throughout Africa, particularly in Kenya. She urges visitors to work with local travel agents or other trained experts who know the region and what accessible options exist. Those people may have been the ones who worked to get a hotel or restaurant to install ramps or train the staff on helping someone who is neurodivergent.

“Let’s say you want to see giraffes somewhere,” Ndirangu said. “I can now advise you, ‘That place is not viable if you’re on a wheelchair or on crutches because of the hills and the valleys.’ So I can give you an alternative — and you get to see the giraffes.”

Tours organized for the general public may not be ideal for people with disabilities in many cases, whether it’s because the exhibits are too high for anyone in a wheelchair to see, or too loud for a person with sensory issues.

The offerings at the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum complex, include the sensory-friendly “Morning at the Museum” program, which is designed so participants who are neurodivergent and their families can visit a Smithsonian museum in Washington once a month before it opens to the public. They can engage in hands-on, multi-sensory activities or just stroll around at their own pace.

“We can control the environment, we can reduce the crowds,” Grady said. “It’s a completely judgment-free environment and one that’s really meant to hopefully be that full bridge to inclusion, where they are able to come to a museum, have a great experience, and then maybe come back when we’re open to the public.”

In Berlin, Catholic aid organization Malteser Deutschland noticed that people with dementia were often overlooked as visitors. The organization designed barrier-free tours specifically for this population at the Berlin Zoo, the Museum of Natural History, Britzer Garden and Charlottenburg Palace, with hopes of expanding to other locations.

The Berlin Zoo tour is limited to a handful of people, and runs about 90 minutes. The program skips the majority of the zoo’s vast collection of species to focus a few habitats so the participants don’t get too tired or overwhelmed.

Ndirangu said her team was trained to ask visitors upfront if they or their family members require accommodations for any disabilities so they can suggest the best options. It’s not always possible to mitigate what they don’t know about ahead of time, she said. Most hotels in Kenya only have one or two accessible rooms, for example, and they might already be booked by the time a guest who needs it arrives.

“Give us that opportunity to give you solutions,” she said. “We’ve had guests who don’t mention anything.”

The European Network for Accessible Tourism encourages travel companies to build the cost of providing barrier-free services into their programming so it’s spread among all participants instead of only those who might require them. Many museums, for example, offer discounted rates for people with disabilities or free or reduced tickets for a companion.

Grady at the Smithsonian said the institution adapted its offerings after feedback from participants as well as an advisory group. Their advice has ranged from adjusting the colors on an app for people with low vision, to working with curators to ensure that upcoming exhibits are properly accessible for all.

“They’re not asking for anything out of the ordinary,” she said. “They’re literally just trying to experience a visit just like anyone else.”

THE ATACAMA DESERT, Chile (AP) — It takes a moment for the eyes to adjust. A faint spark appears in the darkness; then another, brighter one. Soon, stars, planets and entire constellations emerge. Before long, a whole galaxy stretches across the sky, visible to the naked eye.

In Chile’s Atacama Desert, the night sky feels infinite. Considered the driest place on Earth, its darkness is also one of the clearest windows to the universe.

A rare combination of dry climate, high altitude and, crucially, isolation from urban light pollution, makes the Atacama an unrivaled hub for world-class astronomy and home to the world’s largest ground-based astronomical projects.

“The conditions in the Atacama Desert are unique in the world,” said Chiara Mazzucchelli, president of the Chilean Astronomical Society. “There are more than 300 clear nights per year, meaning no clouds and no rain.”

But the world’s darkest skies may be at risk.

Last year, the desert became a battleground between scientists and an energy firm proposing a green power complex just kilometers (miles) from the Paranal Observatory. Managed by the European Southern Observatory, ESO, the site also is the future home to what is to be the most powerful optical telescope ever built.

Although the energy project was canceled in January following a massive appeal from astronomers, physicists and Nobel laureates, it exposed deep concerns that existing sky preservation laws are lax, outdated and unclear. Since then, several environmental regulations have come under review, including one from Chile’s science ministry targeting protected astronomical zones.

“We are working to ensure the new criteria are strict enough to guarantee that there will be no impact on astronomical areas,” said Daniela González, director of the Cielos de Chile Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 2019 to protect the quality of Chile’s night skies.

The Associated Press spent three days visiting the Paranal facilities in the heart of the so-called Photon Valley. In this high-altitude corridor, several observatories operate side by side using some of the most sophisticated instruments ever engineered.

“Many of these large facilities are located in Chile, and ESO’s telescopes in particular are the most powerful astronomical facilities on the planet,” said Itziar de Gregorio-Monsalvo, the intergovernmental organization’s representative in Chile.

Paranal is one of nearly 30 astronomical sites in northern Chile, most of which are managed by international organizations. Every year, the Atacama Desert draws thousands of astronomers and scientists from around the world to investigate the origins of the universe.

“We are lucky to be here,” said Julia Bodensteiner, an assistant professor at University of Amsterdam, noting that the chances of being selected as a visiting astronomer at Paranal are just 20% to 30%.

Walking across the Atacama’s rocky, uneven terrain is no easy task. At altitudes exceeding 3,000 meters (10,000 feet), oxygen becomes a luxury, while scorching days give way to relentlessly cold nights. But for space observation and exploration, these more than 105000 square kilometers (40,500 square miles) of desert are the perfect setting.

The exceptional conditions of the Atacama have enabled some of the most ambitious astronomical projects ever conceived, like the Extremely Large Telescope, ELT — a $1.5 billion endeavor by ESO scheduled for completion in 2030.

With 798 mirrors and a light-gathering area of nearly 1000 square meters (a quarter of an acre) , the ELT will be 20 times more powerful than today’s leading telescopes and 15 times sharper than NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

All the data compiled at these observatories play a fundamental role not only for life on Earth, but also for the possibilities of its development beyond our planet. Preserving these research spots is essential.

With the ELT, said ESO astronomer Lucas Bordone, “we should be able to see Earth-like planets in what we call the habitable zone, so basically the planets which are candidates towards life.”

Twenty years ago, the Atacama Desert was “an ocean of darkness,” recalled Eduardo Unda-Sanzana, director of the Astronomy Center at the University of Antofagasta. “It was just you and the universe.”

Over the years, however, the landscape has changed drastically.

Driven by urban sprawl, industrial development, and the arrival of mining and wind farms, the desert has become a coveted territory where balance is not always easy to reach.

In Paranal, specialists live like moles in an underground residence designed to keep their presence almost undetectable. Windows must remain covered, hallways stay dark, and any outside movement is guided only by flashlight. Even the faintest light can interfere with the telescopes.

The announcement last year of an imminent green energy project sent shock waves through the international scientific community. Experts pressured authorities to protect Chile’s night sky from the proposed site, which was slated for construction just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Paranal.

The case raised the alarms due to its impacts, such as increased light pollution, micro-vibrations and dust, as well as greater atmospheric turbulence. These conditions would make astronomical activities unviable.

“If you place the ELT next to a city, it doesn’t matter that its diameter is 40 meters long. It’s just the same as having a tiny telescope,” Gregorio-Monsalvo said.

Although the company canceled the project in late January, scientists warn that without new, updated regulations, similar projects could be proposed at any moment.

“Despite all the media hype in 2025, we find ourselves exactly where we were last year,” said Unda-Sanzana, who is also part of a ministerial advisory commission that recently delivered recommendations to Chile’s government following the incident.

There is no shortage of precedents. The first international heliophysics observatory in Chile — a major solar station operated by the U.S. Smithsonian Institution in the early 20th century — was forced to shut down operations in 1955 due to environmental pollution caused by the expansion of mining activity in the area.

“We’ve had 70 years to learn from history and avoid repeating those same mistakes,” Unda-Sanzana said.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

(Corrects to show Tasnim is news agency, not militant group, in headline)

DUBAI, April 26 (Reuters) – Iran executed a man convicted of being a member of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl and carrying out attacks on Iranian security forces, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.

Authorities identified the man as Amer Ramesh, saying he had been arrested in a counter-terrorism operation in southeastern Iran and charged with armed rebellion, including being involved in bombings and ambushes targeting military personnel.

Jaish al-Adl is an extremist Sunni Muslim militant group active in Iran’s poorest region, Sistan-Baluchestan.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

April 26 (Reuters) – Six passengers were injured and hospitalized after a Swiss Air flight from Delhi to Zurich aborted takeoff and was evacuated on the runway at the Indira Gandhi International Airport early Sunday, the Economic Times reported.

The incident occurred when one of the aircraft’s engines failed and caught fire during the takeoff roll, prompting the crew to stop the aircraft and initiate an emergency evacuation, the report said.

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) – A man armed with multiple weapons wearing a bulletproof vest charged a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, wounding a law enforcement officer, President Donald Trump said. 

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; editing by Scott Malone)

April 25 – U.S. Central Command said it intercepted a merchant vessel trying to get through the blockade of Iran on Saturday. Here are some details:

• The ship, identified as the Sevan, was part of a 19-vessel “shadow fleet” transporting Iranian oil and gas products to foreign markets, the U.S. military said.

• Central Command said it was intercepted in the Arabian Sea by a U.S. Navy helicopter from the guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney and was “currently complying with U.S. military direction to turn back to Iran under escort.”

• The “shadow fleet” vessels have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for activities related to transporting billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian energy, oil and gas products, including propane and butane, to foreign markets, Central Command said.

• Since the blockade began, 37 ships have been “redirected,” the U.S. military said.

(Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in Houston; Editing by Sergio Non and Edwina Gibbs)

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the weeks after the April 26, 1986, explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, it was difficult to get any information about the scope of the disaster, aside from terse announcements from the government of the Soviet Union.

Acting on a telephone tip, then-Associated Press Moscow correspondent Carol J. Williams and another Western journalist drove to a cemetery in the northwestern part of the capital, where they discovered the simple graves of some of the victims. The journalists were briefly detained by police at the cemetery and accused of trespassing but were able to see workers digging the graves for the victims.

As part of its coverage of the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, AP is republishing Williams’ story from June 24, 1986:

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By CAROL J. WILLIAMS

MOSCOW (AP) — The 23 fresh graves just inside the main entrance of the Mitinskoye Cemetery are all alike. There is no sign to identify the dead as victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Each grave has flowers on the mound of earth and a concrete border. Workmen are erecting identical marble tombstones. Eerily empty spaces indicate more deaths are expected.

Six of the headstones bear the names of firefighters the Soviet press has identified as victims of radiation at Chernobyl, and a cemetery official said Tuesday the plot was for those who died as a result of the nuclear accident.

At the cemetery on Moscow’s northwest outskirts, workers toiled in steady drizzle putting up marble headstones bearing the victims’ names, birthdates and the day they died in gold-painted inscription. All the dates of death were after the April 26 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Some graves had temporary, hand-printed signs with the names and dates.

A cemetery official who declined to give his name to two Western reporters who visited Mitinskoye said a monument will eventually be built to those who died.

“They will all be brought here,” the official said, declining to say how many deaths have occurred as a result of the Chernobyl accident.

The last official report on casualties from the Ukrainian power station was given on June 5, when Soviet officials said 26 people had died, including two killed during the initial fire and explosion.

One of the victims, power plant worker Valery Khodemchuk, will be entombed with the ruined No. 4 reactor because his body was never recovered, the Communist Party daily Pravda reported on May 23.

The newspaper reported that another man, Vladimir Shashenok, had been killed instantly and buried at a village near the power station.

American bone marrow specialist Dr. Robert Gale, who helped Soviet doctors treat those suffering from radiation sickness, has said there would probably be more deaths among the 55 or 60 people still in serious condition.

Those suffering radiation sickness were brought to a Moscow hospital and the deaths presumably occurred there.

At Mitinskoye Cemetery, more deaths seem expected. Fifteen graves form a row at the back of the Chernobyl plot. There is a second row of eight graves, with three graves to the right and five to the left of a gap that would accommodate seven graves.

On the headstones of firefighters Viktor Kibenok, Vladimir Pravik, Nikolai Vashchuk, Vasily Ignatenko, Vladimir Tishchura and Nikolai Titenok are etched gold stars and the ranks they held in the military fire brigade that first responded to the accident.

Graveyard workers declined to say how long ago the burials took place, or whether rituals were separate for each victim or held together for the group.

Bouquets of red and pink flowers left by relatives were carefully placed on the mounded earth on each grave.

“It’s very sad, they were so young,” commented an elderly woman visiting another area of the cemetery. “They were brought here to be treated at hospitals, but they couldn’t be sent home to be buried.”

A danger zone has been drawn around an area of the nuclear power station and all residents of the area have been evacuated.

Cemetery officials confiscated the notes and film of the two reporters, saying reporters needed permission to visit the cemetery.

A policeman stationed at the cemetery said it was off limits to all except family members and special permission was needed from local authorities to copy the names on the headstones or take pictures.

The official later escorted the two reporters to the graves on condition they not make notes or take pictures.

Syrian Officials Announce Arrest of Amjad Youssef for Alleged War Crimes   

Rizik Alabi/The Media Line  

[DAMASCUS] The Syrian Ministry of Interior announced Friday the arrest of a man named Amjad Youssef, who was allegedly involved in serious violations that he documented in videos during the years of the Syrian war, including incidents linked to mass killings in a suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, in 2013.  

According to an official statement issued by the ministry, Youssef was detained during a security operation carried out in the al-Ghab Plain area in rural Hama province, following several days of intelligence tracking. Authorities indicated that the operation comes as part of ongoing efforts to pursue individuals wanted in connection with cases related to the armed conflict that has been ongoing in the country since 2011.  

Authorities have not yet disclosed precise legal details regarding the charges against the detainee beyond what is known as the “Tadamon Massacre,” named after the Damascus neighborhood where it was carried out. It was also not clarified whether he has been formally referred to the judiciary, but it was confirmed that he is under investigation in connection with incidents that occurred during the war.  

Youssef’s name has appeared in media and human rights reports in recent years, as he has been linked in some of those reports to events that took place in the Tadamon district in southern Damascus in 2013. The case gained widespread international attention after video footage was published in 2022 documenting the execution of civilians in the field.  

According to investigative journalism and human rights reports, Youssef was allegedly part of an armed group that participated in the arrest of civilians during security operations in the area before transferring some of them to isolated locations inside Tadamon, where extrajudicial killings were carried out and the victims were later buried in mass graves in the surrounding area.  

These reports describe the events as having taken place linked to military operations during the war. The Assad government at the time did not issue independent judicial confirmation regarding the details of the incidents or the identities of those involved.  

The footage, which spread widely after its publication, sparked broad condemnation from human rights organizations, which described the actions as potentially amounting to war crimes and called for independent investigations and accountability for those responsible.   

The Assad regime did not officially acknowledge the details of the recordings or their accuracy.   

US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack welcomed the announcement of the arrest of Youssef,   who is known as the “Butcher of Tadamon” for the atrocities committed against Syrian civilians. He described the move as a “new model of justice” in post-Assad Syria, based on the rule of law and national reconciliation.  

Barrack wrote in an X post that the arrest represents a “strong step away from impunity toward accountability,” stressing that the United States stands alongside the Syrian people in their pursuit of justice. He added that US President Donald Trump supports these efforts aimed at reinforcing the rule of law and helping the country recover.  

Youssef is believed to have been a former official in the Syrian security services during the rule of Bashar Assad, and his name has been linked to serious violations in the Tadamon area, including acts of torture, killing and arbitrary detention. The nickname “Butcher of Tadamon” is derived from survivor testimonies documenting these abuses.  

The announcement of Youssef’s arrest comes at a time when the issue of accountability for violations committed during the Syrian conflict remains one of the most complex issues, amid ongoing political divisions and the difficulty of establishing effective international justice mechanisms inside the country. The move is described by the new Syrian authorities as efforts to implement “transitional justice” and hold former regime figures accountable.  

Human rights organizations have welcomed the arrest in principle, considering it a potential step in addressing past violations, while stressing that the main importance lies in ensuring transparent and fair trials in accordance with international standards, away from political or selective considerations.  

It is worth noting that the Syrian war, which began in 2011, has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions, in addition to extensive documentation of serious violations committed by various parties to the conflict, most notably the Assad regime and the Islamic State group.  

So far, authorities have not announced a date for the detainee’s court appearance, nor have they issued further details regarding the expected legal procedures against him. Observers are awaiting further developments in the case and whether it will lead to a public judicial prosecution. Millions of Syrians reportedly welcomed the arrest, with demonstrations taking place in some neighborhoods of Damascus, particularly in Tadamon, where the massacre allegedly occurred.  

The Media Line reportedly possesses video footage and confessions from Youssef in which he admits to killing civilians, but it has refrained from publishing them due to their extreme graphic nature. Other footage is said to show Youssef leading civilians to execution and burning without trial.  

Caption: Amjad Youssef is wearing a prison uniform. (Ministry of Interior) 

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — An explosive device killed 13 people traveling on a bus in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, an attack the country’s army chief described as a “terrorist act” that also left at least 38 injured as violence linked to drug trafficking in the region escalates.

Octavio Guzmán, the governor of the region of Cauca, said on X that the device was set off while the bus was traveling along the Panamerican Highway in the municipality of Cajibio. Five children were among the injured, Cauca Health Secretary Carolina Camargo told Noticias Caracol, a TV news program.

Gen. Hugo López, commander of Colombia’s Armed Forces,told a news conference that it was a “terrorist act” and blamed the network of a man known as “Iván Mordisco” — one of Colombia’s most wanted figures — and the Jaime Martínez faction. Both are dissidents of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that operate in the region.

Neither Iván Mordisco nor the Jaime Martínez faction abide by the peace agreement signed with the state in 2016.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the attack on X.

“Those who carried out the attack and killed seven civilians — and wounded 17 others — in Cajibío — many of them Indigenous people — are terrorists, fascists, and drug traffickers,” he wrote.

The attack is the latest in a spate of explosions that have attempted to target public infrastructure. At least 26 incidents have taken place in the past two days in southwestern Colombia, which López said has only affected civilians.

They included a shooting at a police station in the rural area of Jamundi, and an attack on a Civil Aviation radar facility in El Tambo, where authorities took down three explosives-laden drones earlier on Saturday. No one was hurt.

On Friday, two vehicles rigged with explosives were detonated near military units in Cali and Palmira, causing material damage.

The escalation of violence in that region — a territory contested by illegal armed groups linked to drug trafficking — prompted the mobilization of high-ranking officials on Saturday. Led by Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez, the delegation that includes regional governors and local authorities, was meeting in Palmira when the deadly explosion occurred.

“These criminals seek to instill fear, but we will respond with firmness,” Sánchez said on X.

Meanwhile, Francisca Toro, governor of Valle del Cauca, has called upon the national government to provide “immediate support.” In a message on X, Toro called for a reinforcement of public security forces, enhanced intelligence operations and “decisive actions” against crime in the face of a “terrorist-level escalation.”

According to authorities, Cauca and Valle del Cauca serve as a critical hub for illicit activities of illegal armed groups vying for control over sea and river access routes leading to the port of Buenaventura — a key transit point used to traffic drugs to Central America and Europe.

The government has also offered a reward of more than 1 million dollars for information leading to the capture of “Marlon,” who is identified as the leader of the region’s dissident group. On Friday, local authorities offered more than $14,000 for information leading to the identification and location of those behind the attacks in Cali and Palmira.