El Salvador officials deactivate powerful car bomb
A powerful bomb was found in a car parked near El Salvador's security ministry, but experts were able to deactivate it, the country's defense minister said Saturday.
Gen. David Munguia Payes said the bomb contained plastic explosives and would have sprayed glass shards if it had exploded.
The Justice and Security Ministry earlier issued a statement saying that agents found the bomb Friday in a car that had been reported stolen. They were apparently acting on an anonymous tip.
It's not clear who left the device, but a crackdown on gangs, and battles among the gangs themselves, have led to hundreds of deaths this year in the country of 6 million people.
The U.S. Embassy issued a warning that the discovery "is evidence of a further escalation in the level of violence" in El Salvador, though it said it is not aware of any threats aimed directly at U.S. citizens.
