Acid attack kills man in Colombia

Bogota: A 22-year-old Colombian man died on Wednesday from injuries he sustained in an acid attack, a disturbing new violent crime trend here, authorities said.

Medellin police chief Jose Angel Mendoza told reporters that the young man and a woman, 42, “were targeted with a substance, according to preliminary reports ... a concentrated acid.”

The woman was burned on her leg, he said.

It was the fifth case of acid attacks in Colombia in just the past two weeks. The other victims were not fatal and all were women.

On Monday, Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon suggested that restricting acid sales might be considered amid the surge in the acid attacks.

President Juan Manuel Santos has called the crimes “deplorable.”

The problem is not entirely new, by far. Since 2004, 924 cases of acid attacks have been registered in Colombia, the forensic medical service said.