Incident Summary:
09/01/2008: On Monday night at 0005, a pick-up truck packed with explosives blew up in front of Palace of Justice, the city’s central court building, in downtown Cali, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia. The car bombing attack, which was carried out by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’s (FARC) Manuel Cepeda Vargas Urban Front according to police, killed five civilians and wounded 26 others. In addition, the blast caused extensive damage to the Palace of Justice, destroying a large part of the building's first floor and several adjoining buildings, including the Attorney General's Office and the Aristi Hotel. No claim of responsibility was made for the incident, although Colombian daily El Tiempo reported in its online edition that FARC recently circulated news saying attacks were to escalate in retaliation to increasing military operations and Operation Jaque, which in July led to the liberation of top FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt and 15 others. On 09/09/2008 on Tuesday, police arrested six suspected perpetrators who carried out the car bombing attack.
Overview
GTD ID:
200809010005
When:
2008-09-01
Country:
Colombia
Region:
South America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Valle del Cauca
City:
Cali
Location Details:
The car bombing attack took place in front of Palace of Justice, the city’s central court building, in downtown Cali, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia.
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Government (General) |
Name of Entity |
Palace of Justice |
Specific Description |
The Palace of Justice, the city’s central court building, |
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 |
Unknown explosives placed in a vehicle were used in the bombing 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 |
The summary of this incident was partially based on articles originally written in Spanish. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
Unknown |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
6 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
5 Fatalities / 26 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
5 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
26 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
EFE, "Police Report Car Bomb Explosion in Cali, Four Killed, 26 Wounded "Car Bomb Kills 4 in Colombia"," World News Connection, EFE, September 1, 2008. |
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, "Five Dead, 26 Injured as Car Bomb Explodes in Colombia," Lexis Nexis, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, September 1, 2008. |
Colombian National Police Website, ""There is No Doubt the FARC is Responsible for the Disastrous Attack in Cali"," September 2, 2008, http://www.policia.gov.co/. |
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