Deadly Blast Rocks Elite Colombian Club

A suspected car bomb tore through Colombia’s most exclusive private club late Friday evening, immediately raising fears of a new wave of violence in this country’s long civil war.

Although only four people were confirmed dead, local officials estimated the death toll to be as high as 30. More than 100 people were injured in the blast that occurred about 8 p.m. in the capital, Bogota.

Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus said the explosion apparently originated in the garage below the 13-story Club El Nogal, resulting in a blaze that was quickly controlled by firefighters. He estimated that the bomb could have contained more than 400 pounds of explosives.

“There was a huge and serious explosion that turned into a fire,” Mockus said. “It was a serious, severe blow by terrorist groups.”

In a sign of the gravity of the attack, President Alvaro Uribe and Defense Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez visited the site late Friday for a personal update. Uribe has made a crackdown on leftist guerrillas the centerpiece of his presidency, raising war taxes and boosting the number of soldiers in the army.

Uribe’s first day in office marked a new phase in the 40-year-old conflict, when rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC for its initials in Spanish, launched a series of homemade mortar shells during the inauguration Aug. 7, leaving more than a dozen dead in a poor district near the presidential palace.

Since then, the guerrillas have unleashed a bombing campaign against the capital and other cities. Peace talks collapsed nearly a year ago. Colombia’s conflict pits the army and right-wing paramilitaries against FARC and other leftist rebels who want to overthrow the government. No group had claimed responsibility for the bombing by late Friday.

A bombing at Club El Nogal represents a blow to the heart of Colombia’s elite. The club is a meeting place for the most powerful currents of Bogota society, including politicians, bankers and retired military officers. The U.S. ambassador’s residence is nearby, though there were no signs that it was a target.

The blast rocked buildings for miles around the club in upscale northern Bogota. Windows shattered for blocks, and authorities evacuated neighbors in case the club collapsed.

Jose Patino, a waiter in the club, said he was working on the fifth floor when the building suddenly shook. He found himself falling through a massive hole and wound up on the fourth floor beneath rubble. A firefighter helped him to safety.

“The wall collapsed on me. When I finally reacted, I got up. It was totally dark, with thick smoke,” he said.

The destruction recalled the drug wars of the early ‘90s, when Pablo Escobar’s Medellin drug cartel unleashed a wave of terrorism against Colombia’s cities in an effort to prevent extraditions.

Until the past year, Colombia’s cities had largely been immune from the violence that routinely rocks the countryside.