Attack on U.S. Government-titled Helicopter | August 21, 2025 | Colombia

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Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on those responsible for an August 21, 2025 terrorist attack in Colombia’s northwest department of Antioquia that killed 13 Colombian National Police (CNP) members , wounded four CNP officers and destroyed a U.S. government-owned helicopter.

The attack occurred as the CNP-piloted aircraft was trying to extract –wounded officers who had been conducting a coca leaf-eradication operation in the Bajo Cauca region when they came under fire. Coca leaf is the primary ingredient used to manufacture cocaine. As the team loaded into the helicopter, a hidden improvised explosive device (IED)  was detonated, destroying the U.S. government-titled UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.

One day after the attack, Alexander Diaz Mendoza (also known as Calarca Cordoba), leader of the General Staff of Blocks and Fronts (EMBF), claimed responsibility for the attack in an interview with Colombian news outlet El Espectador. The attack was reportedly led by the EMBF’s 36th Front. The EMBF is a splinter faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC-EP), which the U.S. government designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization in November 2021.