Assailants fired a noisy "homemade rocket" at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, and more powerful bombs rocked the capital and the city of Cali, killing a security guard and damaging a score of businesses.
A journalist also was reported murdered in the Pacific coast city of Buenaventura, officials said Sunday.The attacks were the latest in the relentless wave of violence attributed to Colombia's Medellin and Cali cocaine cartels, which have declared war against the government.
No one was hurt when what a U.S. Embassy official called "a homemade rocket" exploded just before 9 p.m. at the embassy's Bogota compound.
"It hit the embassy but it didn't cause any damage or injuries," the official said. The noisy blast discolored the concrete in a small area at the compound, he said.
The rocket apparently was fired from the street, but it was not known who fired it, the official said.
About 40 minutes before the Embassy attack, two bombs exploded just moments apart in a business district of northern Bogota, wounding one person and badly damaging about 20 businesses, police said.
A third bomb went off in downtown Bogota about 45 minutes after the first two, causing damage in a commercial sector, but no injuries were reported, police said.
In Cali, 180 miles southwest of Bogota, a bomb ripped through a restaurant district Sunday as people celebrated "The Day of Love and Friendship" - Colombia's Valentine's Day. Security guard Jesus Maria Rio was killed in the blast.
About five minutes after the first blast, two more bombs exploded in the nearby savings and loan institutions Conavi and Corpavi, police said. A fourth bomb went off an hour later in another savings and loan, Ahorramas.