A 12-year-old child was killed and more than thirty other people, including at least six children, were wounded Saturday night in a bomb attack in front of a police station in Bogota, authorities said yesterday, Sunday.
"One of the seven children wounded, aged under 12, died at dawn" yesterday, Claudia Lopez, the mayor of the Colombian capital, said on Twitter.
"Unfortunately we have a little girl of five years old who is in a very serious condition," she added, explaining that this child has suffered a head injury.
General Eliezer Camacho Jimenez, police chief in Bogotá, gave a newer account, citing thirty wounded.
Two police officers, who were wounded in the attack, are in "stable" condition.
The children were "playing" near the police station when the explosion occurred, Ms. Lopez explained, explaining that it was the second attack of this kind since the beginning of the month in the popular district of Ciudad Bolívar.
The explosives were placed in a suitcase in front of the police station and "detonated remotely by telephone," Defense Minister Diego Molano told the media.
"An identical device" had been used in the March 5 attack on another police station in the same district, the minister added.
Authorities offered a reward equal to 80.000 dollars (72,800 euros) for any information that would allow the arrest of the perpetrator or perpetrators of the attack committed the day before yesterday.
"I heard the crack of the bomb, I started running to save myself from danger. I lost my hearing, my glasses, I was stunned," recounted Leonardo Bocanegra, who was in a nearby shop when the explosion occurred.
In addition to the destruction of part of the police station, about sixty other buildings in the area were damaged.
Colombian President Ivan Duque, whose term of office will end in August - he is not eligible for re-election - expressed his "deep sorrow" via Twitter.
Colombia is experiencing a resurgence of violence by armed groups: defectors from the former rebel faction Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who reject the 2016 peace agreement; members of the National Liberation Army (ELN), officially the last faction continuing the armed struggle in Colombia; the heirs of the far-right paramilitaries officially disarmed and disbanded in 2006; and other organisations primarily engaged in drug trafficking, such as Clan del Golfo.
Source: Proto Thema
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