Sept. 1 (UPI) — A car bomb exploded Monday night outside a police station in northeastern Colombia, killing one person and injuring 11 others, including two police officers, while causing extensive property damage.

The attack occurred at 11:15 p.m. local time in Los Patios, a municipality in the metropolitan area of Cúcuta, the main city in northeastern Colombia, according to a statement from the National Police.

The explosion sparked a fire at the police station and damaged several police motorcycles, electrical infrastructure and nearby homes. Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the attack, local broadcaster Noticias Caracol reported.

The attack, preliminarily attributed to the National Liberation Army, or ELN, guerrilla group, prompted the immediate deployment of senior military and civilian officials to the border region. The Colombian government declared a state of alert and ordered security reinforced.

President Abelardo de la Espriella condemned the attack in a statement on X and announced that he would travel immediately to Cúcuta to lead an emergency security council meeting with military and police commanders.

“Following the terrorist attack in Los Patios, in the Cúcuta metropolitan area, I have convened a Security Council with the entire leadership of the security forces, which I will attend personally,” de la Espriella said.

“We are not going to leave a single region of Colombia on its own. Wherever terrorists seek to…” he added in the post.

George Quintero, the department’s security secretary, told Blu Radio that the region has faced a complex security situation for the past 19 months, driven by a territorial struggle between the ELN and FARC dissident groups.

Quintero said the confrontation has led to an “onslaught” against security forces, with at least 14 incidents involving attacks on police stations and military personnel since August.

The area is strategically important because it lies directly along Colombia’s border with Venezuela. The region has significant migration and commercial flows and has historically faced security tensions linked to control of cross-border routes.