Bomb blast rocks Cotabato

Source: philstar

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - A bomb exploded yesterday evening at the residence of a gun store owner in the southern Philippines, where a homemade bomb killed two people and wounded 10 others four days ago, officials said today.

Lawyer Cynthia Guani-Sayadi, city administrator, said the explosion occurred around 8 p.m. Saturday outside the house of JV Martinez along De Mazenod Street in the southern city of Cotabato occurred but no casualty was reported.

"The explosive was left outside Martinez residence. He was not around that time," said Sayadi.

Martinez is the owner of a gun store along the city's Quezon Avenue where a bomb went off Tuesday killing two people and wounding 10 others.

"He (Martinez) already gave his side to the police. He told investigators that he has no idea why his shop was attacked. But we know that he has several grudges," said Sayadi.

"It's not enough. We wanted him to cooperate with the police who will dig deeper into the case. There's something fishy," Sayadi added.

Authorities were still determining the kind of bomb used in the latest attack.

Police said the twin attacks has nothing to do with terrorism but the military said the explosion outside the gun shop was carried out by students of militant leader Basit Usman of Jemaah Islamiyah.