A police commander and five civilians were killed in an explosion at a police station in Columbia yesterday. The explosion occurred when a car full of explosives blew up outside of the station located in Villa Rica, which is in the Cauca province. Ricardo Alarcon, the police commander of the province, said that dozens of people were injured in the explosion.
A hospital adjacent to the police station sustained heavy damage and many patients were injured. Oscar Ospina Quintero, the health secretary for province, said that the maternity wing and the emergency room were destroyed in the blast. Patients were evacuated from the hospital and moved to a school nearby. There were also many stores and homes that were destroyed.
The massive explosion comes just a day after another bomb was detonated in the Narino province, which neighbors the Cauca province. There were nine people killed in that explosion and another 70 people were seriously injured.
Police are now offered a reward for information about the bombings – specifically information that will lead police to the bombers’ identities. The reward is worth up $56,000 or about 100 million pesos.
Security in the region has been increased and Juan Manuel Santos, the president of Columbia, said that more than 300 more police officers have been sent to the two provinces. Santos has condemned the bombing and blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) for the bombing. FARC is a guerilla militant group that has been at war with the government in Columbia for over fifty years. The group is not as strong as it once was, but they have been responsible for many kidnappings and attacks on security forces. The group has not claimed responsibility for the bombings.
FARC was supposed to be releasing six hostages, all of which national police officers. On Wednesday, though, FARC issued a statement saying that that the release was being delayed because there were too many government troops in the area where the hostages were supposed to be released.
