Colombia car bomb blamed on ELN kills Venezuelan man

A car bomb outside a police station in Los Patios, northeastern Colombia, killed a 23-year-old Venezuelan man and injured 11 other people, including two police officers, authorities said.

Local police commander Colonel Jimmy Belalcazar attributed the Monday night bombing to the National Liberation Army, or ELN. He told Caracol Radio that one of the wounded officers needed to have part of his leg amputated.

Authorities said a stolen vehicle loaded with about 80 kilograms of explosives blew up next to the police station at around midnight. Police had earlier said the vehicle had been repainted to resemble a taxi and that the device was detonated remotely.

AFP journalists at the scene saw flames from the vehicle, broken glass, rubble and damage to part of the police station.

The bombing came shortly after President Abelardo de la Espriella's administration conducted an airstrike against guerrillas in Guaviare, in southern Colombia's Amazon region, killing 20 people. De la Espriella has pledged a harder line against armed groups amid Colombia's worst violence in a decade.