Colombia bomb blast at police office wounds four
BOGOTA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside a police building in the Colombian city of Cali on Sunday, wounding at least four people in a rare urban attack, officials said.
Authorities did not immediately blame any group for the attack, but the blast came just hours after FARC guerrillas released four hostages in what they said was a humanitarian gesture in their four-decade conflict against the state.
"Unfortunately terrorism has gripped our city again. An explosive device was set off and we have reports of four wounded," Cali Mayor Jorge Ivan Ospina told reporters at the site, where the blast ripped the front of the building.
Violence and attacks in cities have ebbed since President Alvaro Uribe began his U.S.-backed security crackdown on drug traffickers and leftist rebels engaged in Latin America's oldest running guerrilla insurgency.
The government blamed a bomb that killed two people in Bogota last week on a rebel extortion racket.
The FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- is at its weakest in decades after suffering the deaths of three top commanders, the rescue of a group of high-profile hostages and a string of desertions last year.
Rebels released three captive police officers and one soldier from jungle camps earlier on Sunday in what analysts said was an attempt to regain political leverage. But talks with the government appear distant as both sides stick to demands for any accord. (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Authorities did not immediately blame any group for the attack, but the blast came just hours after FARC guerrillas released four hostages in what they said was a humanitarian gesture in their four-decade conflict against the state.
"Unfortunately terrorism has gripped our city again. An explosive device was set off and we have reports of four wounded," Cali Mayor Jorge Ivan Ospina told reporters at the site, where the blast ripped the front of the building.
Violence and attacks in cities have ebbed since President Alvaro Uribe began his U.S.-backed security crackdown on drug traffickers and leftist rebels engaged in Latin America's oldest running guerrilla insurgency.
The government blamed a bomb that killed two people in Bogota last week on a rebel extortion racket.
The FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- is at its weakest in decades after suffering the deaths of three top commanders, the rescue of a group of high-profile hostages and a string of desertions last year.
Rebels released three captive police officers and one soldier from jungle camps earlier on Sunday in what analysts said was an attempt to regain political leverage. But talks with the government appear distant as both sides stick to demands for any accord. (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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