A car bomb exploded Thursday at a police academy in Bogota, leaving at least 21 people dead and dozens injured, Colombian police reported on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, AP reported, citing local police, that at least nine people were killed and 54 were injured on Thursday by a car bomb that went off in a police school in the Colombian capital of Bogota, AP news agency reported citing police.
This comes after Penalosa said earlier that five people died and ten other people were injured.
According to the Heraldo media outlet, the explosion took place early in the morning before the start of graduation ceremony and left 10 people injured.
Earlier, witnesses cited by the AP news agency said they heard a loud explosion which shattered windows in buildings in close proximity to the General Santander police academy.
Reacting to the reports, Colombian President Iván Dugue Márquez wrote on Twitter that he immediately returned to Bogota and was going to the scene. Previously, the president had plans to hold a meeting of the Security Council in the department of Choco on Thursday.
Later on Thursday, Colombian President Ivan Duque announced three-day mourning over the victims of a deadly terror act at a police school in Bogota.
"To honor their memory, we have announced three-day national mourning," Duque said in a televised address to the nation. The president also ordered to tighten security measures at the country’s border and routes leading to cities. Duque called on Colombians to unite against terror threat and asked them to support the investigation into the attack.
Duque said the authorities had identified the perpetrator on the day of the attack and were eager to bring the people connected to the terror act to justice.
The president pledged to boost fight against criminal gangs and reconsider the system of remuneration for capturing their heads.Ambulances and helicopters rushed to the scene.
Colombia' s government declared three days of mourning on Thursday as the blast also injured 68 others. The defence ministry said the "terrorist act" was carried out using a vehicle packed with 80 kilogrammes of explosives.
"Unfortunately, the preliminary toll is 21 people dead, including the person responsible for the incident, and 68 wounded," Colombian police said in a statement, adding 58 of those hurt had been discharged from the hospital.
The defence ministry previously reported 11 dead and 65 injured.
The scene outside the General Santander Police School in southern Bogota was chaotic in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, with ambulances and helicopters rushing to the normally tightly controlled facility.
Fanny Contreras, the Colombian armed forces' health inspector, told local radio the truck "entered [the school compound] suddenly, almost hitting the police, and then there was the explosion".
Hunting down the 'masterminds'
President Ivan Duque ordered reinforcements to Colombia's borders and routes in and out of cities.
"I have also requested that priority be given to all the investigations ... to identify the masterminds of this terrorist attack and their accomplices," he said in an address to the nation.
Right-wing Duque, who assumed power in August, has peddled a tough line against Marxist rebels and drug traffickers in the largest cocaine producer in the world.
Peace talks with National Liberation Army (ELN) fighters - who in the past have claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on police - stalled before Duque replaced Juan Manuel Santos as president, and have not been restarted.
Duque has made several demands, including the release of all hostages, as prerequisites to kick-starting the peace process, but the ELN has dismissed those as unacceptable.
After the 2016 peace accord signed by Santos and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas - turning the former rebels into a political party - the ELN is considered the last active insurgent group in a country, which has suffered more than half a century of conflict.
'Very sad days'
An Ecuadorian woman was among the dead and the wounded included another Ecuadorian and two Panamanians, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Witnesses told The Associated Press they heard a loud explosion that destroyed windows in adjacent buildings.
Rafael Trujillo said he was delivering a care package to his son, Gerson, who entered the school two days ago when he was stopped in his tracks by the blast a block away from the school's heavily fortified entrance.
"I'm sad and very worried because I don't have any information about my son," said Trujillo, standing outside the facility, where police officers had set up a taped perimeter. "This reminds me of some very sad days in the past."
Video and photos posted by local media of the scene showed what appeared to be the remains of a vehicle on fire. Windows of nearby buildings had also been shattered.
