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Colombia's Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced a record reward of 5 billion pesos ($1.4m) for information leading to the capture of rebel leader "Marlon." The suspect, whose real name is Iván Jacob Idrobo Arredondo, is accused of ordering Saturday's bomb attack on the Pan-American Highway, which resulted in 20 deaths. Sánchez confirmed this is the highest bounty ever offered by the Colombian government for a single individual.
The attack is one of the deadliest targeting civilians and comes just over a month before presidential elections scheduled for 31 May.
The defence minister accused "Marlon" of being behind Saturday's attack as well as a series of others in the provinces of Cauca and Valle del Cauca, in south-western Colombia, over the weekend. No evidence or details have been released.
In the deadliest of these incidents, 15 women and five men were killed when an explosive device was detonated on the motorway connecting the cities of Cali and Popayán, the governor of Cauca province said. Several buses and other vehicles were destroyed in the blast, which opened up a huge crater.
"Marlon" belongs to an armed group led by a dissident rebel known by the alias of Iván Mordisco, Colombia's most wanted man.
Mordisco once formed part of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) but broke away from the rebel group as it negotiated the 2016 peace deal with the government. He is considered to be Colombia's most powerful dissident rebel leader. His group engages in illegal mining and extortion as well as drug trafficking.
Cauca Governor Octavio Guzmán described Saturday's explosive attack as the "most brutal and ruthless attack against the civilian population in decades".
President Gustavo Petro described those behind it as "terrorists, fascists and drug traffickers" and ordered additional troops to the region.
