Associated Press Clara Rodriguez sits with her hand to her head after a bomb exploded yesterday, in Villavicencio, Colombia, a provincial capital 60 miles southeast of Bogota. The explosion killed 12 people, wounded dozens and stoked fears that Colombia's civil war is becoming one of indiscriminate terrorist attacks. No one claimed responsibility for the blast in a bar and restaurant area, but police suspected the country's main rebel group was behind it.

VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia - A car bomb exploded in a provincial capital of Colombia yesterday, killing 12 people, wounding dozens and stoking fears that Colombia's civil war is becoming one of indiscriminate terrorist attacks.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast in Villavicencio shortly after 1 a.m., but police suspected the country's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was behind it.

A small explosive device had gone off minutes earlier, attracting people who were in bars and restaurants on a warm weekend night. Then the bomb - located underneath a car in a nearby parking lot - blew up, shredding bodies and causing damage in a four-block-wide area.

Two mangled bodies remained uncovered on the street hours after the bombing as investigators picked through the debris. The blast heavily damaged several buildings, including the offices of Radio Super, bars and discos. Several cars were wrecked.

The rebels have increasingly turned toward civilian targets since peace talks with the FARC collapsed on Feb. 20, attacking power plants, reservoirs and bridges. On Friday, another car bomb exploded in the town of Fuente de Oro, injuring 13 people and damaging 20 businesses.

In Villavicencio yesterday, Mary Batio sat on a curbside, mourning her 22-year-old daughter, Diana Cristina Beltran, who was killed in the attack while out with friends.

"I want my baby back," Batio wailed. "She didn't have anything to do with anything. Why did she have to lose her young life?"

Leonor Castro, 71, said her nephew saved her life by carrying her out of her bedroom when the smaller device exploded outside her home. Minutes later the larger bomb went off, destroying her bedroom and blowing the door onto her bed.

The Colombian and Uruguayan tennis teams were in the city, 45 miles southeast of Bogota, for a Davis Cup match, but no players were injured. Colombian team captain, Uriel Oquendo, said his team was in a hotel in another part of the city.

"Thank God, we were relaxing far from the place of the attack," Oquendo said in a telephone interview. The final matches began as scheduled later yesterday.

Residents said they were afraid the two car bombings, both in Meta province, might herald a new offensive targeting civilians. The 38-year-old civil war already claims some 3,500 lives every year.

"This makes us afraid that something even worse will come," said Lenigh Hillom, her voice trembling as she surveyed the damage to her marketing business a block away from the bomb.