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Guatemala City –  The intellectual authors of the bus bombing that killed seven people here earlier this week have been identified, Guatemalan prosecutors said Wednesday.

Two jailed leaders of a faction of the Mara 18 gang ordered, planned and oversaw the attack on the bus belonging to the Transportes Quetzal company, prosecutor Rony Lopez told Emisoras Unidas radio.

Gustavo Pirir and Eulogio Escobar managed the attack on the bus from the jail where they were being held prior to their transfer Wednesday to a maximum-security prison, the prosecutor said.

Pirir and Escobar are the leaders of a Mara 18 faction known as Little Sayco Criminal that is behind an extortion racket targeting bus companies in the western section of the capital, Lopez said.

Guatemalan bus operators are frequently targeted by gangs engaged in extortion rackets and nearly 500 bus drivers and other transit workers have been slain since 2006, Association of Drivers' Widows figures show.

The gangs seek to impose a "circulation tax" on buses operating within gang-dominated neighborhoods in and around Guatemala City.

"Gustavo Pirir managed and directed all the operations from jail, not just the extortion, but he also coordinated the attacks" on buses, the prosecutor said.

Pirir was involved romantically with Sonia Veliz, the 20-year-old woman arrested Tuesday for planting the bomb on the bus.

Veliz was "captured using a robot photo prepared with the testimony of a survivor of the attack," Lopez said.

Another jailed Mara 18 member, Carlos Rodriguez, detonated the bomb from prison using a cell phone, Lopez said.

Rodriguez, who was also transferred to a maximum-security prison on Wednesday, "communicated with other people outside (the prison) who made the bombs that he detonated from jail with a call," the prosecutor said.

A 35-year-old woman and her two sons, ages 3 and 11, as well as two other people, burned to death inside the bus, while two other passengers died while being transported to a hospital.

A Transportes Quetzal partner was arrested on Wednesday for his "indirect" role in the attack, Lopez said.

Edwin Avendaño was supposed to collect the extortion payments intended for the gang from operators and deposit the funds in different bank accounts, the prosecutor said.

"This person was in charge of collecting the money, but he kept part of the extortion funds. He did not hand over the money to the ones who were supposed to get it" and that was the motive for the attack, Lopez said.