A 12-year-old boy was killed and more than 30 others, including at least six children, were injured Saturday night in a bomb attack on a police station in Bogota, Colombia, authorities said Sunday.

“One of the seven children injured, aged less than 12, died in the early hours of the morning,” Claudia Lopez, the mayor of the Colombian capital, said via Twitter yesterday.

“Unfortunately, we have a five-year-old girl who is in a very serious condition,” she added, explaining that the child had a head injury.

General Eliezer Camacho Jimenez, Bogota police chief, gave a new report, which put the number of wounded at 30.

Two police officers, who were injured in the attack, are in a “stable” condition.

Junto a @mindefensa y @PoliciaColombia visitamos el CAI de Arborizadora Alta en Bogotá, tras el cobarde ataque con explosivos de hoy, para coordinar las investigaciones y hallar responsables. Colombia entera rechaza actos terroristas contra nuestra fuerza pública y la comunidad. pic.twitter.com/Bd17f0scC9

— Iván Duque 🇨🇴 (@IvanDuque) March 27, 2022

The police pay for information

The children were “playing” near the police station when the explosion took place, Ms. Lopez explained, explaining that this was the second such attack since the beginning of the month in the popular district of Ciudad Bolivar.

The explosives were placed in a suitcase in front of the police station and “fired from a distance over the phone,” Defense Minister Diego Molano told the media.

An “identical mechanism” had been used on March 5 in the attack on another police station in the same neighborhood, the minister added.

Authorities offered around $ 72,800 for any information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator or perpetrators of the attack the day before yesterday.

“I heard the bomb blast, I started running to escape the danger. “I lost my hearing, my glasses, I was stunned,” said Leonardo Boccanegra, who was at a nearby store when the blast occurred.

Revival of violence

In addition to the destruction of part of the police station, about sixty other buildings in the area were damaged.

Colombian President Ivan Duque, whose term ends in August – he has no right to be re-elected – expressed his “deep sorrow” via Twitter.

Colombia experiences resurgence of militant violence: Former Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) insurgents reject the 2016 peace deal; members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) formally in Colombia; the heirs of far-right paramilitaries who were officially disarmed and disbanded in 2006; and other organizations that are primarily involved in drug trafficking, such as the Clan del Golfo.

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