This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Colombian authorities said a one-armed explosives expert belonging to the country’s last remaining rebel group carried out a car bombing against a police academy that left 21 dead and more than 70 wounded.

The chief prosecutor, Néstor Martínez, said at a press conference on Friday that the man who carried out Thursday’s brazen attack, the deadliest in 15 years, was a longtime member of the National Liberation Army, or ELN.

Even though José Aldemar Rojas, who died in the attack, had no criminal record, intelligence reports indicate that the 56-year-old man also known by the alias Mocho Kiko lost his arm manipulating explosives during his long career as an operative in an ELN rebel cell near the border with Venezuela, Martínez said.

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Thursday’s attack recalled some of the bloodiest chapters of Colombia’s recent past and has raised tough questions about lingering security threats in the wake of a 2016 peace deal with Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels. It would also appear to torpedo any chance of stalled peace talks with the ELN resuming any time soon.

President Iván Duque is expected to announce later on Friday the government’s stance on the future of the peace talks.

Overnight, the death toll from the bombing more than doubled to 21, the worst tragedy since a 2003 car bombing carried out by Farc rebels against an elite Bogotá social club that killed 36. It proved especially unsettling because the target, the General Santander school, is one of the city’s most protected installations.

With the help of security cameras and witness testimony, investigators were able to quickly identify Rojas and determine that he was the owner and driver of a 1993 Nissan pickup that was loaded with 80kg (175lb) of pentolite and rammed past a security checkpoint into the leafy campus.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Colombian defence minister, Guillermo Botero speaks during a press conference on Friday. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

The defence minister, Guillermo Botero, said Rojas entered the heavily guarded facility via a side entrance used for deliveries, driving fast through a gate opened to allow the exit of a few motorcycles. He then drove into the heart of the school where the vehicle exploded in front of a red tile-roofed barrack used by female cadets after an honor ceremony had concluded.

“This was an operation being planned for more than 10 months,” Botero said.

Duque, visiting the academy in the aftermath of the blast, vowed to spare no effort in fighting the “miserable” terrorists who carried out the attack.

“The terrorists are looking to intimidate us as a society and attack the state,” he said in a televised address in which he declared three days of mourning. “Colombia will demonstrate that it is a strong state, united, and won’t break in the face of the dementia of these aggressions.”

Among those killed was a top-of-class female cadet from Ecuador, while two visiting students from Panama were among those injured.

Videos shot on cellphones show panicked officers hauling injured colleagues on stretchers with debris and body parts strewn in front of the skeletal steel remains of the still-burning vehicle.

Records show the car used in the attack was last inspected six months ago in the eastern city of Arauca, near the border with Venezuela.

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The same volatile area is a stronghold of the ELN, the country’s last remaining rebel group following a 2016 accord between the government and the Farc that saw 7,000 rebels disarm.

The ELN has been stepping up its attacks on police targets and oil infrastructure amid a standoff with the conservative Duque government over stalled peace talks.

But until now the Cuban-inspired group, which is believed to have about 1,500 guerrilla fighters, has never been capable or much interested in carrying out such a high-profile act of violence.

Duque has demanded the ELN cease all attacks and kidnappings as a condition for restarting the talks and has condemned Venezuela and Cuba for allegedly providing a safe haven for rebel leaders even as their troops continue to sow violence in Colombia.