Two bombs rock Bogota bars

BOGOTA -- One woman was killed and 71 other people, including three Americans, were injured Saturday night after grenades were tossed into two Bogota bars popular among US military personnel, police said.

The first attack occurred at about 10:30 p.m. at the popular Bogota Beer Company, a brewery located in the city's hip Zona Rosa entertainment district. Moments later, another grenade was hurled next door into Palos de Moguer, a bar-restaurant also known as a regular haunt for US Embassy personnel and contractors working on a $2 billion antidrug program known as Plan Colombia.

The US Embassy yesterday confirmed three Americans were among the hospitalized, but declined to comment on whether they were targets. None of their injuries was life-threatening, an embassy spokesman said.

The FBI and ATF are investigating.

Colombian police immediately blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, leftist rebels waging war here for nearly four decades.

One grenade caused an outdoor heating lamp to explode, causing further injuries. The explosions could be heard from the upscale Andino shopping center across the street, where security guards routinely check customers for explosives.

"I fell to the ground," said jewelry vendor Arturo Vasquez, his jeans and merchandise splattered with blood. "There were a lot of people hurt. There was a fire. Everything lit up. There was a man burning!"

Mayor Antanas Mockus said at least seven people were in critical condition. "The struggle is to change people's thinking so this doesn't fit in anyone's imagination," he said. "So it doesn't ever occur to anyone again." The man who allegedly launched the grenades was identified by the bar's security guards and arrested while attempting to run from the scene, Bogota Police Director General Hector Garcia said. The suspect lives in a southern Colombian region with heavy FARC presence, police said. The suspect was "nervous," police said, and could not explain the large amounts of money he carried in his pocket.

"I was drinking a beer when it happened. I started to run when they nabbed me," the suspect told reporters as he was taken away. "I didn't throw anything."

The FARC has waged a terror campaign in Colombia, which in recent years has increasingly been brought to the cities. In February, an explosion rocked a country club, killing more than 30 people.

Last month, six people died when a car bomb went off in a busy shopping district.

Rules that restricted US military aid from stemming the flow of cocaine were adjusted this year to allow for counterinsurgency efforts. The FARC says it considers contractors working on Plan Colombia legitimate military targets.