Colombian footballer shot in bar

Colombian national football team player Elson Becerra was shot to death along with a friend in a nightclub in his home city of Cartagena on Sunday, police said on Monday.

Becerra, 27, who played for Colombia as a striker during its recent unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign, went to the nightclub with a friend after an argument with a group of men, who followed him and shot and killed them both, police Col. Mauricio Agudelo said.

No arrests have been made so far, Agudelo said.

Becerra, who played for United Arab Emirates club Al Jazzira, was hit by four bullets.

Colombian football has often been hit by the country's endemic violence, which is fed by a massive cocaine trade. In the most famous case, defender Andres Escobar was shot to death in 1994 shortly after returning from the World Cup in the United States.

Many fans had blamed Escobar for Colombia's elimination after he scored an own goal in a match against the host nation.