![Colombian anti-explosive police inspect the site where a bomb exploded near the La Santamaria bullring in downtown Bogota, Colombia, on February 19, 2017. According to official reports, 30 people were injured in the explosion. / AFP PHOTO / STR / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by STR has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [According to official reports, 30 people were injured in the explosion.] instead of [According to official reports, one policeman was killed and 30 people were injured in the explosion.]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require.](https://www.eaglenews.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/000_LU9YRHDF.jpg)
According to official reports, 30 people were injured in the explosion. / AFP PHOTO / STR /
Mayor Enrique Penalosa had said on Twitter that a police officer was killed in the blast, but officials later said that report was a mistake and there were no deaths.
The city hall said 31 people were injured, two of them seriously.
Police cordoned off the area at the center of the blast, where fragments of rubble lay as police explosives experts inspected the site.
The explosion struck near the Plaza Santamaria bullring in the Macarena district.
The bullring was beset by protesters when bullfights resumed there on January 22 after a four-year hiatus.
Those injured on Sunday were mainly police guarding the venue, as they have during every bullfight Sunday since the protests, local media reported.
Penalosa, who overflew the scene in a helicopter, said the area had been secured.
“Anyone who wants to go to the bullfight can do so in safety,” he tweeted.
“The terrorists are not going to intimidate us and we are going to do what is necessary to capture them,” he added.
The authorities have not said who was behind the explosion or whether anti-bullfight activists were suspected.
Closed in 2012 by the city’s former leftist mayor Gustavo Petro, the bullring was ordered to reopen by Colombia’s Constitutional Court.
Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the attack, in a message on Twitter.
“Investigations must go ahead to capture those responsible,” he wrote, expressing his “support for all the wounded police.”
The mayor’s office said it would give more details of the attack later after an emergency security meeting on Sunday afternoon.
lda/rlp/mdl
© Agence France-Presse
