A feud between right-wing paramilitaries and criminal gangs was blamed on Friday for a powerful car bomb that exploded in a crowded park in the Colombian city of Medellin, killing eight people and injuring 137.
"All indications are that this is a retaliation stemming from a war between the AUC and criminal bands, specifically The Terrace band," Gen. Tobias Duran, director of operations at the National Police, told reporters.
A car bomb packed with 44 pounds of explosives ripped through an upscale neighborhood in Medellin, north of Bogota, shortly after 11 p.m. EDT on Thursday hurling shards of debris and glass onto crowds enjoying a night out at a park bordered by cafes, restaurants and night clubs.
It was the second car bomb to explode in less than 15 days in violence-racked Colombia, torn by a 37-year-old war that has killed 40,000 people in the last decade.
The blast came hours after gunmen of the United Self Defenses of Colombia, or AUC -- an outlawed militia that targets leftist guerrillas -- killed execution-style the leader of The Terrace, a notorious Medellin-based criminal gang, said Gen. Alfredo Salgado, deputy police chief.
President Andres Pastrana, who has bet his presidency on bringing peace to his South American nation, flew to Medellin on Friday and toured the bomb site. After a security meeting with top military officials, he ordered 100 members of an elite police unit to Medellin to investigate the blast and prevent more attacks.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Fernando Tapias said the attack was the work of "demented terrorists" and called for special anti-terrorist legislation.
"The country has to understand that the most efficient thing against terrorism is a strong anti-terrorist legislation," Tapias said earlier in rebel-thick southern Putumayo Province, where he had accompanied Pastrana on a trip to monitor U.S.-backed efforts to eradicate the world's No. 1 cocaine industry -- BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters)
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