No One Hurt After Bomb Blast Outside Columbia Newspaper
A bomb exploded outside the office of a left-wing newspaper early Sunday, shattering its windows and damaging several nearby buildings, police said. There were no injuries.
The 45-pound bomb exploded in central Bogota, in the entrance to the Communist newspaper Voz, a small weekly owned by the left-wing Patriotic Union party, said police chief Gen. Teodoro Campo.
Campo said police had no suspects and did not know the motive for the attack.
Carlos Lozano, the newspaper’s managing editor, said the paper had received telephone threats for weeks from suspected right-wing paramilitaries.
“I’m sure it was the paramilitaries. They are the ones who have been threatening us,” Lozano said.
Lozano said the paper reported the threats to police but was not granted special protection. He said Voz would continue publishing despite the attack.
The bomb destroyed the entrance to the building housing the newspaper and caused damage to offices inside. It also destroyed doors and windows at three or four nearby buildings. Metal bars over several windows were ripped apart by the force of the blast.
In the past nine years, about 2,000 Patriotic Union members have been killed, mostly by right-wing paramilitaries.
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