MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean Government to apply Antiterrorist Law in two Temuco bombings

Minister of the Interior Rodrigo Peñalillo vows to be harsh in cracking down on the culprits.

One carabinero wounded. Opposition demands that Bachelet's administration does not hesitate in handling these cases.

One carabinero (police officer) was wounded as a bomb went off Wednesday at the 2nd Carabineros Station in Temuco, which also caused considerable damage to the building, the Chilean Police of Investigations (PDI) reported on Thursday. The Undersecretary of the Interior also confirmed that the government planned to invoke the Antiterrorist Law for its legal proceedings in this case, which impaired his hearing to Corporal Alejando Aravena Aravena and in the case of a second bomb at the PDI's Temuco Foreign Affairs Unit.

Preliminary reports indicate that a suspect approached the Carabineros building and dropped a fire extinguisher with a time mechanism which allowed him to flee the scene. The bomb thrown at the Foreign Affairs Unit was defused by the Carabineros' Special Operations Group GOPE.

Politicians from the ruling New Majority backed President Michelle Bachelet's administration's decision to invoke the Antiterrorist Law. A Deputy for the Araucanía (the region where Temuco is) Fuad Chahin said that the government ought to stand firm against those responsible. Chahin is also vicepresident of the Christian Democrat party. “It's not acceptable that our region has become commonplace for violence, specially violence as grave as the one we have been witnessing lately,” he added.

Deputy Gustavo Hasbún of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) demanded that “the government once and for all stops shilly-shallying and admits that there are acts of terrorism going on here.”

National Renewal (RN) Senator Alberto Espina was also critical - “in this [matter] the Government has been inexcusably negligent.” He addded that “the opposition has submitted projects aimed at reversing a situation that is to be found not only in the Araucania region but throughout the country.”

Interior Minister Rodrigo Peñailillo dubbed the bombings as “unacceptable and condemnable”, and promised the most stern measures on behalf of the government “to find out shortly who is behind all this.”