The attack took place in the central part of the city at around 8:45pm when an altercation began between two people. A crowd had gathered around the two and at one point a grenade was detonated, according to authorities.
“This was a fight between two people, and one of them took out a grenade, and there was a struggle between the two over the grenade and that struggle resulted in the explosion,” Luis Fernando Suarez, Deputy Mayor of Medellin told El Colombiano newspaper.
Police and local officials said the explosion was not part of a guerrilla or a terrorist attack, the newspaper report said.
“We are treating this as a fight between two people, one of whom had a grenade and who detonated it, resulting in one dead, a woman who was near by,” the report quoted police commander, General Jose Angel Mendoza, as saying.
The woman killed in the explosion was identified as 23-year-old Rocio Del Carmen Arrieta Arenas, police said.
The incident took place outside a bakery and the dozens of bystanders injured by flying shrapnel were transferred to surrounding hospitals. Three of those were seriously wounded and remain in critical condition, the report said.
The commander of the Metropolitan Police also confirmed that the person accused of causing the explosion is among those injured and is in hospital. He is under police watch, a report in El Espectador said.
The police said their investigation is ongoing.
By Mark Kennedy