(17 Jan 2019) At least eight people were killed and another 10 injured in a car bombing at a police academy in Colombia's capital on Thursday, authorities said.
The scene outside the General Santander police academy in southern Bogota was chaotic in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, with ambulances and helicopters rushing to the normally tightly controlled facility.
Witnesses said they heard a loud blast that destroyed windows in adjacent apartment buildings.
Pictures on social media showed a charred vehicle surrounded by debris on the academy's leafy campus.
For decades, residents of Bogota lived in fear of being caught in a bombing by leftist rebels or Pablo Escobar's Medellin drug cartel.
But as Colombia's conflict has wound down, security has improved and attacks have become less frequent.
While authorities had yet to suggest who was behind the attack, attention was focused on leftist rebels from the National Liberation Army, which has been stepping up attacks on police targets in Colombia amid a standoff with the conservative Duque over how to re-start stalled peace talks.
Thursday's bombing was the deadliest in the capital since an explosion at the upmarket Andino shopping mall in June 2017 killed three people, including a French woman, and injured another 11.
Police later arrested several suspected members of a far-left urban guerrilla group called the People Revolutionary's Movement for the bombing.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
