Three killed, 11 injured in blast at Colombia mall

Victims include a 23-year-old Frenchwoman.

Colombian firefighters stand outside a shopping centre following an explosion inside the building in capital Bogota on June 17, 2017.

Three people including a young Frenchwoman were killed and 11 others wounded on June 17, 2017 when an explosion rocked an upscale Bogota mall, the mayor said.

“This cowardly terrorist attack at the Centro Andino mall is deeply distressing,” Mayor Enrique Penalosa said, without giving details on who may have been behind the blast.

The French national was 23, he said.

The other two victims were women aged 27 and 31, police and firefighters said, without giving their nationalities.

President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the attack and ordered National Police chief General Jorge Nieto to investigate.

Police said an explosion tore through a restroom in the mall crowded with shoppers ahead of Father’s Day, located in an upscale area of the Colombian capital that is popular with foreigners.

Witnesses told of being evacuated from movie theatres and stores after a blast. Ambulances and firetrucks rushed to the scene and the injured were taken to a hospital.

Authorities’ attention immediately focused on the country’s largest still active rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN, which in February 2017 claimed responsibility for a bombing near Bogota’s bullring that killed one police officer and injured 20 other people.

The government in 2016 reached a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which was much bigger than the ELN. The ELN is also engaged in peace talks but has so far refused for its fighters to lay down their weapons. Some analysts attribute an uptick in violence in Colombian cities to the group’s desire to wrest concessions from the government at the negotiating table.

Bogota has seen dramatic improvement in security over the past decade as the country’s long-running conflict has wound down. But the capital remains vulnerable to attacks as residents let down their guard

Still, the Andino shopping centre would seem a difficult target. All vehicles entering the parking garage are screened by bomb-sniffing dogs and security guards are present throughout the mall.