By IANS/EFE,
Bogota : The death toll in the car bombing in Colombia’s port city of Buenaventura has risen to nine, while 59 people were injured in the incident, authorities said.
“The most recent toll that the health department just confirmed is 59 people injured. We have nine people confirmed dead and we have material damage to nearby buildings,” municipal government secretary Henry Moreno told the press Thursday on Wednesday’s attack.
Several of the injured have been treated and released, but a few others remain hospitalised due to the severity of their injuries, he said.
Colombian authorities are offering $150,000 for information on the perpetrators of the attack.
The vehicle packed with more than 40 kg explosives was detonated by remote control around 9.25 a.m. Wednesday in front of the offices of the mayor, public prosecutor and the Valle del Cauca provincial tax agency.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Gabriel Silva said the authorities have “very good clues about those responsible for the terrorist action.” He condemned the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for “planning terrorist actions against the population”.
While the military also pointed the finger at FARC, Attorney General Guillermo Mendoza said the bombing may have been the work of a drug-dealing group known as Los Rastrojos in retaliation against the authorities’s recent seizure of a large consignment of cocaine.
“From where the bomb was placed it leaves the impression that it was a retaliation against the police and the prosecutors,” he said.
Buenaventura has been the scene of a number of bombings in recent years. The city has been a battleground among guerrilla groups trying to gain control of the drug trade, as the city is strategically located between the coast and the mountains.
The FARC set fire Monday to seven trucks on the highway that links central Colombia to Buenaventura, forcing officials to briefly close the main road into the port from which 50 percent of Colombia’s exports are shipped.