Incident Summary:
02/07/2003: At 8:15 PM local time, a car bomb containing about 200kg of explosives detonated in building containing a nightclub in Bogota. The blast was on the third floor of the parking lot in the rear of the building containing the exclusive El Nogal nightclub, a place that caters to Bogota's elite. The eleven-story building was destroyed, ultimately killing 32 civilians, inclduing six children, and injuring at least 162. One estimate put the injured tally at over 200. Several other nearby buildings were also damaged. The Director of the Antiterrorism Unit of Colombia's Office of the Prosecutor General, and Vice President Francisco Santos immeidately blamed the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)for the attack. The Mayor of Bogota offered a 500 million peso (USD 165,000) award for information on the bombing. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) claimed responsibility for the attack 15 years later.
Overview
GTD ID:
200302070002
When:
2003-02-07
Country:
Colombia
Region:
South America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Bogota
City:
Bogota
What
Attack Information
| Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
| Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
| Target Type: Business |
|---|
| Name of Entity |
El Nogal Nightclub |
| Specific Description |
El Nogal Nightclub, Bogota |
| Nationality of Target |
Colombia |
Additional Information
| Hostages |
No |
| Ransom |
No |
| Property Damage |
Yes |
| Extent of Property Damage |
Major (likely > $1 million but < $1 billion) |
| Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
| Type |
Sub-type |
| Explosives |
Vehicle |
| Weapon Details |
|---|
| A car bomb with 200kg of explosives was used in the attack. |
Additional Information
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
| Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
| Additional Information |
On 02/09/2003, thousands of Colombians marched in Bogota to protest against the bombing. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
| Number of Perpetrators |
Unknown |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
| Total Number of Casualties |
32 Fatalities / 162 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities |
32 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities |
Unknown |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
| Total Number of Injured |
162 |
| Number of U.S. Injured |
Unknown |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
| "Terrorist attack at El Nogal Leaves Over 20 Dead, 114 Injured," El Espectador (Internet Version-WWW), February 8, 2003. |
| Vanessa Arrington, "Thousands of Colombians gather to protest car bomb that killed 32 people," AP, February 9, 2003. |
| Jose Ramos, "32 dead in Bogota nightclub bombing; vice president blames FARC rebels," AFP, February 8, 2003. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties
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