An attack on Chilean Police officers in the south of the country included a car bomb, prosecutors confirmed Tuesday.
The attack was supposed to occur on top of a bridge that connects Tirúa and Cañete.
Nonetheless, the explosive device detonated before it reached the bridge.
While common in other parts of the world, car bomb attacks are rare in Chile.
The last on record in country were those executed by Michael Townley, a CIA agent, in the 1970s, under general Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.
According to the final report issued by the Uniformed Armed Police, a group of 30 people blocked the P72-S route near the Lleu Lleu bridge, carrying guns and wearing camouflage jackets as well as bulletproof vests.
Juan Francisco Galli, undersecretary of the Interior, condemned the attack and announced that he would visit the area to coordinate further security measures.
“We claim the attack carried out Monday in the Lleu Lleu area towards policemen subservient to forestry companies, usurpers of our ancestral lands”, Resistencia Mapuche Lavkenche said in a statement.
“With this, we take a step closer to the unity of the Mapuche resistance and we reassert our commitment to expel forestry companies from our lands and other capitalist expressions that threaten Mapuche life”, they added.
In the document, they attached a picture of at least 70 people, all heavily armed.
