A car bomb exploded in the Colombian port town of Buenaventura today, killing six people and wounding more than 30, in an attack the military suspected was carried out by FARC guerrillas.
The explosion hit the area near the local attorney general's building and the mayor's office in Buenaventura, a major harbor on the Pacific coast, authorities said.
"Unfortunately there are six dead," said Juan Carlos Abadia, governor of Valle del Cauca State where the city is located.
"This is an attempt to destabilize and to generate an atmosphere of fear and chaos."
Armed Forces commander General Freddy Padilla said guerrillas from the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, were suspected in the bombing. But the country's attorney general said the blast could have been carried out by drug traffickers in retaliation for his office's investigations.
The coast near Buenaventura is a key cocaine smuggling point and rebel militias involved in drug trafficking have often bombed and ambushed army and police patrols in the city.
Colombians go to the polls in May to vote for a new president and most candidates are promising to maintain his security policies.
Reuters