One dead after bomb blast in southern Philippines: police

Source: Mysinchew
Foreign 2009-12-05 14:54

ZAMBOANGA, Dec 5 (AFP) - One person was killed and six policemen wounded Saturday when a bomb exploded near a police station on a southern Philippine island known as a haunt for Muslim extremists, police said.

The bomb blast, in Jolo town on the island of the same name, damaged the police station and a neighbouring building constructed with US assistance to promote peace, said local police head Chief Inspector Usman Pingay.

One local government employee was killed and six policemen wounded, he said.

Pingay said that the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group, known for kidnapping and bomb attacks, may be behind the blast, although investigations had only just begun.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a series of attacks on Jolo in recent months, including a roadside bomb blast that killed two US soldiers.

Set up in the 1990s allegedly with money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, it has been blamed for the Philippines' worst terrorist attacks. It is listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation.

Small groups of US military advisers are stationed on Jolo and elsewhere in the southern Philippines to train troops in how to combat the Abu Sayyaf.