A grenade attack by a local gang in Bogotá late Wednesday night left three people dead and nine others wounded, marking the second such incident in the San Bernardo neighborhood within weeks.
Confirming the attack, Bogotá’s Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán stated that the explosion targeted a crowd of people, causing significant casualties.
“Tonight, a new explosive device was thrown into a crowd of people… unfortunately leaving three dead and at least nine wounded,”the mayor said in a statement on social media platform X, just before midnight.
The mayor linked the attack to ongoing police operations against criminal gangs in the area, suggesting that the explosion was a retaliatory move by criminal elements trying to resist law enforcement efforts.
“This new attack, like previous ones in the same area, is a reaction of criminal gangs seeking to survive the sustained siege of the Bogotá police on their structures in the San Bernardo neighborhood,” Galán explained.
In response to the attack, the mayor has directed security agencies to ramp up operations against the gangs and apprehend their leaders.
“I have ordered Bogotá police to intensify pressure on local gangs and capture their leaders,” he added.
Bogotá police commander Giovanni Cristancho described the attack as part of an ongoing turf war between rival criminal groups.
“The grenade attack was in response to a conflict between two local organized criminal groups that are fighting over turf,” Cristancho told reporters near the scene.
The central San Bernardo neighborhood, traditionally known for furniture manufacturing, has become a hotspot for drug trafficking and consumption in recent years.
The area is now a gathering place for many homeless individuals and drug users, making it a volatile zone for criminal activity.
This latest attack follows a similar grenade explosion in the same neighborhood three weeks ago, which killed a homeless person and injured seven others.
Authorities in Bogotá are under increasing pressure to curb gang violence and restore security to the city’s troubled district
