Motorbike bomb kills 10 in Colombia

A remote-controlled motorcycle bomb killed 10 people and injured 48 others early today in Colombia, army officials said.

The bomb exploded around 4am (11am Irish time) as revellers were leaving bars and nightclubs in the south-western city of Florencia.

“People were leaving to go home when the motorcycle exploded,” said General Luis Alberto Ardilla, an army commander in the city, 235 miles south west of the capital, Bogota.

He said the motorcycle was strategically placed outside a packed nightclub to cause the greatest number of victims. The dead included a nine-year-old, two police officers and seven bystanders.

Gen Ardilla blamed the attack on suspected members of Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) which has been battling to overthrow the government for nearly four decades.