Medellin Café Bombing

 

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- A deputy congressman and a shoeshine man were killed Tuesday and five others wounded when a bomb exploded outside a cafe in Medellin, authorities said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. It came against the backdrop of recent threats by Marxist rebels to target the country's politicians if they did not quit their posts.

Police identified the dead lawmaker as Hildebrando Giraldo, a member of the Conservative Party.

Those injured in the explosion included three local councilmen and two radio journalists who were meeting at the cafe in an upscale southern suburb of Medellin, Colombia's third largest city.

Bombings are not uncommon in Medellin -- an industrial hub hotly disputed by leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary forces and the former power base of violent drug cartels.

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/07/23/colombia.bomb/index.html

Leftist guerillas and the right-wing paramilitary forces are all Christians including the South American Marxist rebels.