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Deadly blast kills 3 in Colombian capital

Locals stand near an upscale shopping center where a bomb blast left three people dead and 11 injured, in Bogota, Colombia, June 17, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Colombia’s capital, Bogota, has been rocked by a deadly bomb blast, which has left more than a dozen casualties.

Three women, including a French national working in a relief organization, were killed and 11 were wounded after an explosive device was detonated on Saturday in the upscale Andino shopping center.

The center was packed with people buying gifts for Father’s Day celebrations on Sunday when the explosive device went off in a toilet. Police said the device had been placed in a toilet bowl in the women’s restroom located on the second floor.

Bogota Mayor Enrique Penalosa called it a “cowardly terrorist attack.”

This image shows locals standing by the escalator stairs in an upscale shopping center following an explosion inside the building, in Bogota, Colombia, on June 17, 2017. (By AFP)

Last year, President Juan Manuel Santos signed a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s foremost rebel group. The country’s second-largest militant group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN, is currently negotiating peace with the government.

In February, the ELN detonated a device in Bogota, injuring injured dozens of police forces. The ELN, however, denied any involvement in the Andino blast and condemned the attack against civilians.

Authorities said the so-called Gulf Clan, a group of former right-wing paramilitary forces who traffic drugs, might have been behind the Saturday attack.

President Santos has ordered an investigation into the incident.


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