Colombian Rebel Group Denies Being Behind Bombing of Club

In a rare denial, Colombia’s largest rebel group says it wasn’t behind last month’s social club bombing, the worst urban terror attack here in a decade. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, an insurgent group known as the FARC, is responsible for hundreds of acts of terrorism and kidnappings a year here, but says it was not to blame for the explosion that killed 37 people at the El Nogal social club in northern Bogotá on Feb. 7. The Colombian government blamed the leftist rebel group and says the denials do not dissuade investigators. “After conducting a patient, rigorous and serious investigation inside all political-military structures . . . we concluded: units of this organization are not responsible,” said a March 9 statement on the organization’s official website, www.farcep.org. The FARC communiqué is significant because the rebel group, waging war here for nearly 40 years to overthrow the state and enact a socialist agenda, rarely speaks out after acts of terror. In fact, the organization often admits its role in kidnappings, such as the recent abduction of three American defense contractors. Full Story