COLOMBIA: Authorities arrest five in car bomb attack

Record ID: 357624

  • Title: COLOMBIA: Authorities arrest five in car bomb attack
  • Date: 29th August 2012
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE AT SCENE OF ATTACK BLOOD ON THE STREET VEHICLES DESTROYED BY BOMB BLAST
  • Embargoed: 13th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVAAJKJD8UUTK7OP5UHN8YS0W3QU
  • Story Text: Colombian authorities captured on Tuesday (August 28) five suspects accused of masterminding a rare car bomb attack in Bogota.
    The May 15 bomb attack was carried out against former interior minister Fernando Londono. Television images of the attack showed an injured, bloodied Londono being led away by authorities.
    Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon told journalists that a minor was among the suspects.
    "This individual is a minor, the individual's alias is 'pilot' or 'meat' and is part of a so-called office of debt collections in the city of Cali known as 'the gang of law'," Pinzon said.
    London's driver and a police escort were killed in the attack that also left several others injured.
    The attack left Bogota in chaos and residents reeling. President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the car bombing and branded the act as "terrorism".
    Londono served as interior minister from 2002 to 2004 in the government of former President Alvaro Uribe, who led a crackdown on the FARC Marxist guerrillas and other armed groups during his eight years in office.
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