'Car bomb' in Colombia's capital kills at least eight people
"It seems there was a car bomb inside the General Santander School [police academy]," says Bogota mayor Enrique Penalosa.
Witnesses say they heard a loud explosion that destroyed windows in adjacent buildings. ( Twitter/@ruedareport )
An apparent car bomb exploded in a police barracks on Thursday in Colombia's capital Bogota, killing eight people and wounding ten others, defence ministry and Bogota's mayor said.
"It seems there was a car bomb inside the General Santander School," said the mayor, Enrique Penalosa.
Reports said the scene outside the police academy was chaotic, with ambulances and helicopters rushing to the tightly-controlled facility.
Early images from the City TV station showed ambulances moving around the area close to the school in the south of Bogota.
Witnesses said they heard a loud explosion that destroyed windows in adjacent buildings.
Penalosa called it a "terrorist act" without naming who was behind the bombing.
Pictures on social media showed a charred vehicle surrounded by debris on the academy's campus.
President Ivan Duque, who was visiting a western state, was rushing back to the capital to oversee police operations.
Focus on leftist rebels
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, and the nation's largest rebel group disarmed under a 2016 peace deal, 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.
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