9 dead in car bombing at Colombian police academy

Bogota, January 17 

At least nine persons were killed and 10 injured in a car bombing at a Colombian police academy in Bogota on Thursday, recalling the high-profile attacks associated with bloodiest chapters of the country’s guerrilla and drug conflicts.

The scene outside the General Santander police academy in southern Bogota was chaotic in the immediate aftermath of the mid-morning 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 several blocks away. Pictures on social media showed a charred vehicle surrounded by debris on the academy's leafy campus.

The police said at least nine persons were killed and 22 injured. Among the dead were a Panamanian and an Ecuadorian national.

Rafael Trujillo said he was delivering a care package to his son Gerson, who entered the school just two days ago, when he was stopped in his tracks by the blast a block away from the school’s heavily fortified main gate.

President Ivan Duque said he and his top military commanders were rushing back to the capital from a visit to a western state to oversee police investigation into what he called a ‘miserable’ attack.

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 residents have lowered their guard.

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 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. — AFP