(BSS/AFP) - A truck packed with explosives detonated on Saturday next to a police station in the Colombian city of Cucuta, near the border with Venezuela, six days before the inauguration of President-elect Abelardo de la Abelardo de la Espriella, AFP journalists observed.

Reporters saw the vehicle in flames, damaged building facades and police, soldiers and residents gathering around the scene of the attack.

There was no immediate official report of casualties.

The right-wing De la Espriella will take office on August 7 in the city of Cali, succeeding Gustavo Petro, the first leftist president in the country`s history.

Presidential inaugurations are traditionally held at the Congress building in
Bogota, but the president-elect requested that the ceremony be moved to Cali,
in the country`s southwest, a region plagued by clashes between drug
trafficking gangs and guerrillas.

The election campaign was marked by political violence.

In 2025, right-wing presidential hopeful and senator Miguel Uribe Turbay was
shot at an event in Bogota and later died.

De la Espriella has repeatedly alleged the existence of a plot to assassinate
him.