Blast hits Colombian city

NEIVA, Colombia, March 7 (UPI) -- The detonation of a bomb in a business district of Neiva, Colombia, Saturday prompted President Alvaro Uribe to militarize part of the city.

A hardware store was destroyed and several nearby businesses were damaged. One person was reported wounded in the blast.

Uribe directed army and police commanders to establish a greater presence in the affected neighborhoods of the Huila province capital, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported.

Informers have reported that guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, have been operating in those neighborhoods, the newspaper said.

"It can't go on that there's a bomb every month," Uribe said. "The army and police in Neiva have to find a definitive solution. From today on we must begin a militarization and a massive police presence in the Neiva communes and the Diez commune."