Colombia: At least 21 dead in car bombing at police academy, say officials

President Ivan Duque declared three days of mourning after the attack, which was the deadliest in years against a police or military target in Colombia.

In this image provided by military personnel, emergency personnel respond to the scene of a deadly car bombing at a police academy on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019, in Bogota, Colombia. (AP Photo)

Colombian authorities said the death toll from a car bombing at a police academy in the capital has risen to 21. The police in a statement said that 10 of 68 people injured by Thursday’s blast remain hospitalized.

President Ivan Duque declared three days of mourning after the attack, which was the deadliest in years against a police or military target in Colombia.

Authorities have yet to identify what armed group was likely behind the attack. But they said a 56-year-old man named Jose Aldemar Rojas drove a 1993 Nissan pick-up loaded with 80 kilograms (175 pounds) of explosive past a security checkpoint to carry out the attack.

Colombian authorities were scrambling to identify who was behind a brazen car bombing at a police academy in Bogota that has rattled residents and raised tough questions about lingering security threats in the wake of a peace deal with the nation’s largest rebel group.

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Colombia 'will not bow to violence' after car bomb: Duque

Colombian President Ivan Duque vows that his country "will not bow to violence" after an apparent car bomb attack on a police cadet training school in capital Bogota left at least five people dead and 10 injured, according to the city's mayor.

The Thursday morning bombing was the deadliest in Bogota in years and proved especially unsettling because the target, the General Santander school in southern Bogota, is one of the most protected installations in the capital.

President Ivan Duque, visiting the academy in the aftermath, was careful not to attribute blame to any armed group even while condemning what he called a “miserable” terrorist act that recalled some of bloodiest chapters of Colombia’s recent past.