Suspect arrested in Colombia bombing

Colombian authorities on Friday arrested one suspect in Thursday’s bombing that killed 21 people at a police training center in the capital city. The attack on the General Santander National Police Academy in Bogotá was the worst the country had experienced in more than a decade. Authorities identified the suspect as 56-year-old José Aldemar Rojas Rodríguez. He rammed a 1993 Nissan pickup laden with 175 pounds of pentolite explosives through the security checkpoint and onto the campus, where a start-of-the-year honor ceremony had just finished, Chief Prosecutor Nestor Martinez said. Rojas, who died in the attack, had no prior criminal record. He was a member of the National Liberation Army rebel group, Defense Minister Guillermo Botero said at a news conference.

Authorities also arrested another suspect, identified as Ricardo Carvajal, in a Friday raid after he acknowledged plotting the attack over intercepted phone calls, Martinez said. Authorities plan to charge Carvajal with terrorism and murder. President Iván Duque, who visited the academy Thursday after the attack, declared three days of mourning for the victims. “Colombia will demonstrate that it is a strong state, united, and won’t break in the face of the dementia of these aggressions,” he said in a televised address.