Blast near police station on Colombia's border with Venezuela leaves 1 dead and 11 injured

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — At least one civilian was killed and eleven other people were injured after a car bomb exploded outside a police station in northeastern Colombia, officials said on Tuesday.

The attack took place around midnight in Los Patios, a town on Colombia’s border with Venezuela that is also part of the Cucuta metropolitan area. Police officers are believed to be among those wounded.

President Abelardo de la Espriella said the government would chase those who are responsible.

“Colombia will not yield to terrorism” de la Espriella wrote in a post on X.

In August, an explosion outside a police station in Cucuta injured 11 police officers and killed a police dog. Officials blamed that attack on the National Liberation Army, Colombia’s largest remaining rebel group.

The area around Cucuta has long been disputed by drug gangs and rebel groups who are fighting over smuggling routes leading into Venezuela.

A peace deal signed a decade ago by Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, reduced violence in many parts of the country. But crime has swelled in some regions as smaller groups fight each other and attack the Colombian government as they try to control territory formerly occupied by the FARC.

De la Espriella, who was sworn into office in August, has promised to tackle crime and recently canceled peace talks that Colombia’s government had been staging with various rebel groups.