Colombian police have arrested eight suspected members of an anti-government militia for the deadly June 17 blast at a luxury shopping mall in Bogota.

A bomb planted behind a second floor toilet killed three and wounded at least eight. The dead include a young French woman who was volunteering at a school for the poor.

Police say all eight suspects arrested Saturday are members of the People’s Revolutionary Movement (MRP)– a newly formed group that is allegedly responsible for a number of other attacks.

The eight are expected to be charged with several crimes, including murder and terrorism.

The MRP denies any involvement in the mall blast.

“We profoundly condemn that criminal act against innocent people and we reject being linked to an act of barbarism oblivious to our ideas and actions,” the group said it a statement last week.

Colombia is striving to return to security after the government and the FARC rebel group signed a peace deal last year. The pact officially ends a 50-year FARC uprising that killed more than 200,000 people.

The government also is holding talks with the National Liberation Army, the second largest rebel group.
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