World IN BRIEF : COLOMBIA : Car Bomb Kills 16 Outside Medellin

A powerful car bomb exploded on a highway bridge near Colombia’s cocaine capital of Medellin, destroying a police truck and killing at least 16 people and wounding at least 73, police said. The bomb exploded near the town of Itagui as a truck carrying police officers was passing. Eight officers and eight civilians were killed, police reported. The officers were members of the Elite Brigade, which operates against drug traffickers and leftist guerrillas. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. However, Colombia’s powerful drug barons have pledged to step up their war on the government.