Car Bomb in Bogota Kills 32

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, February 09, 2003

Car Bomb in Bogota Kills 32

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Colombia's government blamed leftist rebels Saturday for a car bomb that ripped through an exclusive social club, killing 32 people -- including six children -- and injuring 162 in the worst terrorist attack in Bogota in more than a decade.

The bomb, which gutted the 11-story club Friday evening, was planted on the third floor inside a parking garage and was packed with 330 pounds of explosives, officials said.

The attack was a shock to capital residents accustomed to a war, now in its fourth decade, fought mostly in the countryside. Vice President Francisco Santos said he "had no doubt" the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was responsible.

He blamed the rebel organization for adopting the tactics of the drug lords who plague the country as well.

"Before, what the narcoterrorists used, now (the rebels) use without any concerns of conscience," Santos said.

Not since drug lord Pablo Escobar unleashed a bloody campaign to avoid extradition to the United States had Bogota seen an attack of Friday's magnitude. With Escobar's death in 1993 and the subsequent breakup of Colombia's large drug cartels, the rebels inherited control of the country's cocaine trade.

The FARC recently vowed to take its drug-financed war against the state to the cities and to attack the country's elite �� people like the businessmen and politicians who frequent El Nogal.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the bombing, saying, "The heartless killing of innocent civilians will only deepen the conflict and further undermine hopes for peace that Colombia seeks and deserves."

The death toll increased from 25 to 32 on Saturday afternoon and included six children, according to the Bogota coroner's office. Another 162 people were injured, officials said.

Source: Agencies

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