Officials of the Colombian Administrative Department of Security (DAS) discovered six fire extinguishers packed with 18.7 kilos of explosive material early Tuesday in a southern neighborhood of Bogotá.
According to the Colombian daily El Tiempo, intelligence monitoring efforts led authorities to the house, which is owned by a local police officer. Underneath a stairway, officials found fire extinguishers packed with a mixture of sodium benzoate and potassium chlorate, a highly unstable explosive often used in improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The DAS also reports that it has recovered maps of Bogotá and a manuscript instructing attackers to attack police stations throughout the nation’s capital city.
Although officials have yet to link the incident with a known criminal organization, the proposed strategy could be part of a recent counter-offensive by the FARC meant to take pressure off its embattled southeastern front.
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