5 Bomb Blasts in Colombia Injure 2
Five bombs packed with up to 2.2 pounds of dynamite exploded almost simultaneously Thursday night outside banks and a supermarket across Bogota, injuring two passersby and causing widespread damage, police said.
No group claimed immediate responsibility for the blasts that rocked largely working-class sectors in the north, northwest and south of the Colombian capital.
In the past, both National Liberation Army, or ELN, guerrillas and a small dissident wing of the now defunct M-19 rebel group have targeted banks to protest what they see as the mismanagement and rampant corruption in Colombia’s financial sector.
Two bombs detonated outside branches of Bancafe, Colombia’s second-largest bank, and two more went off outside Granahorrar, a state-run savings and loan. Two pedestrians were injured in the Granahorrar blast. A fifth explosion rocked a supermarket and a branch of Las Villas, a private-sector savings and loan run by Colombia’s biggest financial magnate, Luis Carlos Sarmiento.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
