Colombian Sen Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country's presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said.

His conservative Democratic Centre party released a statement calling it "an unacceptable act of violence." 

The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighbourhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Centre, which was the party of former President Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related.

Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. A medical report from the Santa Fe Foundation hospital said the senator was admitted in critical condition and is undergoing a "neurosurgical and peripheral vascular procedure." 

"Miguel is fighting for his life," his wife, María Claudia Tarazona, wrote on the senator's X account, urging Colombians to pray for him.

The Attorney General's Office, which is investigating the shooting, said the senator received two gunshot wounds in the attack, which wounded two others. The statement from the office said a 15-year-old boy was arrested at the scene with a firearm.

Colombia's government said it was offering a reward for the capture of all those responsible.

"Respect life, that's the red line," President Gustavo Petro said in a message posted on his X account. Shortly after making the post, Petro cancelled a planned trip to France "due to the seriousness of the events," according to a presidential statement.

Late Saturday night, after leading an extraordinary Security Council session, Colombia's first leftist president promised "complete transparency" in the investigation and to find the intellectual authors of the attack. He also promised an investigation into any failures by the senator's bodyguards.

Colombia will hold a presidential election on May 31, 2026, marking the end of Petro's term. The senator announced his presidential bid in March.

Colombian police chief Gen Carlos Triana said that at the time of the attack Uribe Turbay was accompanied by Councilman Andrés Barrios and 20 other people. A minor who allegedly participated in the attack was apprehended at the scene and was being treated for a leg injury, he said.

Abducted by Escobar gang,  mom died during rescue op

Miguel Uribe Turbay’s, mother Diana Turbay was the daughter of former Colombian President Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala, and a respected journalist who was tragically killed at 40 during a botched rescue attempt in 1991. She had been held hostage for nearly five months by operatives of Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel.

In August 1990, Turbay was lured into a trap, believing she was set to interview a guerrilla leader. Instead, she and five other journalists were kidnapped by Escobar's gang, Los Priscos, part of his strategy to pressure the government against extraditing criminals to the United States. Held at a remote ranch, she was reportedly treated "humanely" and even smuggled out letters urging against forceful intervention.