A powerful car bomb blamed on cocaine traffickers exploded Saturday in a commercial district, killing at least 16 people and injuring 33, radio reported.
Police said at least four children were killed when the 220-pound bomb went off in an area crowded with shoppers looking for school supplies. At least 100 buildings were damaged.RCN radio quoted prosecutors in its report on the casualties. The report could not immediately be confirmed.
Bodies were strewn about in streets covered with debris and broken glass. A police officer told the Caracol radio network that passers-by took off their jackets to cover the dead.
There was no claim of responsible for the bombing, but suspicion fell on the leader of the Medellin drug cartel, Pablo Escobar, who escaped from prison in July and later announced plans to commit terrorist acts.
The car bomb was typical of attacks waged the cartel, which rarely claims credit for terrorist acts. During a 1989-90 terrorist campaign, the cartel set off about 300 bombs.
The bombing was the third explosion in the capital in the past 10 days. On Jan. 21, two bombs went off in northern Bogota, injuring 17 people.
Caracol reported four of the dead were children. A number of youths were also injured, it said.
At the moment of the blast, many children were with their parents buying books and other supplies for the school year that begins Monday.
After Saturday's attack, President Cesar Gaviria called an emergency meeting of the national security council to discuss ways to combat terrorist attacks.
Authorities insist they will not negotiate with Escobar or cave in to terrorism.