Colombia: Captured 8 National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels accused of using a car bomb in a police academy
Colombia has captured eight National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels accused of taking part in a car bomb attack that killed 22 police cadets and derailed peace talks with the government, officials said on Thursday.
The explosion in 2019 was the worst attack in years in Colombia’s capital Bogota and resulted in President Ivan Duque dismissing the possibility of continuing nascent peace talks with the left-wing group, founded in 1964.
“Eight people who participated in the financing, planning and execution of the attack on Jan. 17, 2019 have been successfully captured,” Attorney General Francisco Barbosa said in a joint broadcast with Duque and Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo.
The arrests were carried out in cities including Bogota, Zipaquira and Manizales, as well as the settlement of La Esmeralda in Arauca province, which borders Venezuela, where equipment and vehicles were seized.