Eight die in Colombian bomb blast, national police say

By Elwyn Lopez, CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Explosive cylinders were camouflaged by food inside a vehicle, a police official says
• Victims included give soldiers, a police officer and two civilians

(CNN) -- At least eight people -- five soldiers, a police officer and two civilians -- died Saturday in what Colombian nation police described as a bomb attack in the nation's Cauca province.

Military authorities and national police blamed the attack on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC.

The national police website posted audio from police Maj. Gen. Jorge Nieto saying, "All (evidence) indicates that there were cylinders camouflaged by food items inside of a vehicle." Nieto added that the attack occurred when residents were preparing for a farmer's market day in the municipality of Inza.

The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, said on his official Twitter page, "We condemn and repudiate this cowardly attack in Inza. We will hold a security council meeting in Cauca this afternoon."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

Santos said during an awards event Thursday in Bogota that Colombia, "is a country decisively seeking peace, and advances in the direction of dialogue with firmness and prudence, without neglecting security for a single second."

Although the FARC has been at war with the South American nation's government since the 1960s, peace talks between Santos and the left-wing rebel group began late last year.