Bombing shatters nightspot

last updated 8 January 2015

Florencia, Colombia

A bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded in Florencia, in southwest Colombia, this week, killing 11 revelers heading home from a nightclub. Forty-eight people were injured. “Everything was thrown into the air,” said a wounded victim. “Everybody was screaming.” President Alvaro Uribe blamed leftist rebels, and local police said the attack was an attempt to thwart regional elections. Uribe has launched an all-out war against guerrilla groups, which have been fighting the government for four decades. In a recent push, security forces staged mass arrests of thousands of suspected rebels. “Colombia is in tears,” Uribe said, “but will not give in.”