Car bomb explosion at Colombia military base injures 23 -military sources

The explosion took place at a base used by the 30th Army Brigade in the northeastern city of 700,000 people, which is situated near the border with Venezuela. The government has not officially confirmed the number of injured, but the military sources told Reuters they included both military personnel and civilians.

A car bomb explosion at a military base in the Colombian border city of Cucuta on Tuesday injured 23 people, military sources said. The explosion took place at a base used by the 30th Army Brigade in the northeastern city of 700,000 people, which is situated near the border with Venezuela.

The government has not officially confirmed the number of injured, but the military sources told Reuters they included both military personnel and civilians. The injured were transported to local hospitals, one source, a high-ranking official, said, adding that the toll of the explosion was reduced because most personnel are in preventative isolation because of coronavirus.

Photos and video circulating on social media showed a destroyed white vehicle in flames. "Because of the explosion of a vehicle inside the 30th Army Brigade in the city of Cucuta, I have instructed defense minister Diego Molano to go to the city and carry out the investigations that will allow us to clear up this lamentable situation," President Ivan Duque said on Twitter.

In his own tweet, Molano said he was heading to Cucuta immediately to verify what occurred. Interior Minister Daniel Palacios called the incident a "cowardly terrorist attack" in a tweet, but later deleted the post.

Despite a 2016 peace deal with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, Colombia's military continues to battle National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, crime gangs and former FARC members who reject the accord. The ELN, FARC dissidents and crime gangs are all present in sometimes-restive Norte de Santander province, where the 30th Brigade operates.

No armed group immediately took responsibility for the attack, nor did the authorities name a presumed perpetrator. The government blamed FARC dissidents for a car bomb attack in March in Cauca province which injured more than 40 people.

A 2019 ELN car bomb attack at Bogota's police academy killed 22 people and ended nascent peace talks between the group and the government.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)