BOGOTA (Reuters): Colombia’s ELN rebel group on Monday claimed responsibility for last week’s car bomb attack against a police academy that killed 21 as a legitimate act of war and urged President Ivan Duque to return to the negotiating table. In a statement on its website, the National Liberation Army (ELN) said it conducted the attack against a “military installation” where officials are trained to provide intelligence and actively participate in the war.
“The operation carried out against said installations and troops is lawful within the law of war, there were no non-combatant victims,” the ELN said. In last Thursday’s attack, a gray Nissan Patrol SUV carrying about 80 kilograms (176 lbs) of high explosive pentolite, broke through checkpoints onto the grounds of the General Santander School in the capital, Bogota, before it detonated, also damaging hundreds of apartments nearby.
