Escobar Blamed as 4 Are Killed in Bogota Car Bombings
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BOGOTA, Colombia — Police blamed cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar for a double car bombing in central Bogota on Monday that killed four people, injured dozens more and wrecked numerous buildings and cars.
The bombs exploded within minutes of each other in busy commercial areas, showering passersby with glass and setting fire to parked cars. Police estimated that each contained about 110 pounds of dynamite.
Gen. Oscar Pelaez, commander of Bogota’s city police, said four people died in the two blasts and 20 were injured. Other accounts said more than 100 were hurt.
Both bombs exploded at midmorning as hundreds of people jammed downtown sidewalks.
The first detonated a few yards from a municipal courthouse, killing two people.
The second exploded about 15 minutes later half a block from the luxury Tequendama Hotel.
Escobar, head of the Medellin drug cartel, said in a letter last month that police persecution had left him no other option than to declare war on the state.
He and nine others escaped from a luxury jail near Medellin in July.
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