A Colombian National Police ‘Black Hawk helicopter’ was destroyed Thursday when an explosive-laden drone struck the aircraft over northern Antioquia, killing at least 13 officers, according to Colombian authorities.
Officials said the helicopter was operating near the rural town of Amalfi during a coca eradication mission when the drone struck.
Video shared online, recorded from long range with limited clarity, appeared to capture the moment of impact and later showed black smoke rising from the site. A second unverified video appears to show the helicopter being targeted as it landed in the mountainous region.
The drug mafia in Colombia shot down a police helicopter using an FPV drone. Twelve police officers were killed.
The use of UAVs by militants was confirmed by the governor of the Antioquia department, Andres Julian.
Colombian mercenaries are trained to operate drones within the… pic.twitter.com/wlVOeUQtNO
— Sprinter Express (@SprinterExpres0) August 22, 2025
Queridos paisanos, esta es la paz total de Petro. En zona rural de Amalfi derribaron un helicóptero de la @PoliciaColombia que al parecer estaba brindando seguridad a uniformados en labores de erradicación manual a cultivos de coca. Los policías fueron atacados por un drone.
Es… pic.twitter.com/PnI0XhA2QQ— Andrés Julián (@AndresJRendonC) August 21, 2025
President Gustavo Petro said in a statement on X that the attack was carried out by the 36th Front of the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), a dissident faction of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The EMC is one of several groups that rejected the 2016 peace accord and continues to operate in cocaine-producing regions.
Authorities initially considered whether the powerful Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest drug cartel, was responsible, especially after the seizure of 1.5 tons of cocaine in Urabá earlier in the week.
Tenemos la lamentable noticia de ocho miembros de la policía muertos y 8 heridos, en el helicóptero cuya misión era llevar personal para erradicación de cultivos de hoja de coca en Amalfi.
La autoría del hecho se atribuye al llamado frente 36 del EMC.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) August 21, 2025
Initial reports said eight officers were killed and eight wounded in the crash. The National Police later revised the toll, with Director Carlos Fernando Triana Beltrán reporting at least 13 officers dead and calling the attack a “terrorist act.”
News of the helicopter strike came the same day as a car bomb explosion at the Marco Fidel Suárez military aviation school in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city. Local officials said at least six people were killed and 78 wounded in the blast. The Colombian Aerospace Force also labeled that attack an act of terrorism.
In Colombia, local militants used an FPV drone to shoot down a police helicopter UH-60 Black Hawk carrying government personnel in an anti-drug operation. pic.twitter.com/V4vgpCsYAw
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) August 22, 2025
The use of drones by Latin American armed groups has expanded sharply. Since April 2024, Colombian military officials report at least 301 drone strikes against police and army units, most in the coca-producing provinces of Cauca and Norte de Santander.
Officials say militias are increasingly using small commercial UAVs modified to carry explosives to target patrols, vehicles, and now aircraft.
SOFX recently reported that cartel operatives from Mexico and Colombia infiltrated Ukraine’s International Legion to gain FPV drone training, with investigators warning the knowledge was intended for use in Latin America’s criminal conflicts.
On Friday, the Colombian military said it had begun artillery strikes against EMC positions in Antioquia in response.
Colombia remains the world’s largest producer of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, coca cultivation reached a record 253,000 hectares in 2023. The government’s manual eradication efforts, such as the mission underway during Thursday’s attack, remain a central pillar of Bogotá’s anti-narcotics strategy despite being repeatedly targeted by armed groups.
