Deaths at Colombian police station bomb blast
A woman and her baby die in Orito, southwest of Bogota, in a bomb attack that targeted a police station.
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| The blast killed the wife and son of a police officer at his station in Orito, about 540 kilometres southwest of Bogota |
A bomb has exploded at a police station in southern Colombia, killing two people and injuring at least seven others, the authorities said.
Police General Rodofo Palomino said the blast killed the wife of the regional police commander and their eight-month old son.
The commander, along with his two-year old son and four other people, were seriously wounded and flown to a Bogota hospital for emergency treatment.
Palomino blamed rebels with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for the attack, and announced a $51,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those behind it.
Mayor Argenis Velasquez said he heard the blast from his home.
“It was an explosive that they put in the police station, which ended up totally destroyed,” Velasquez said in a telephone interview.
Mayor-elect assassination
Velasquez said the police captain in charge of the station was new to the job.
Hours after the explosion, the mayor-elect of another town in southwestern Colombia was killed.
Jaime Alberto Chazatar, who was to take office on Sunday as mayor of Santacruz de Guachaves, was shot and killed by men on a motorcycle at his home, outgoing mayor Manuel Molina, said.
He said Chazatar had received threats recently. It was unclear who might have been behind the killing, but Molina said he suspects it had to do with local political conflicts.
There was no apparent link with the bombing of the police station.