More bombings: 2 killed
Source: The philstar
By Roel Pareño and Jaime Laude Updated July 08, 2009 12:00 AM
Police examine the site where a bomb concealed in a motorcycle exploded near the Mount Carmel Church in Jolo. AP
| ZoomMANILA, Philippines - Two people were killed and more than 50 wounded by bomb blasts yesterday in Jolo and Iligan City, in what officials described as coordinated attacks by al-Qaeda-linked militants.
The blasts came two days after the deadly explosion outside a crowded cathedral in Cotabato City on Sunday.
The first bomb exploded in a commercial area in Jolo, killing two people and wounding around 30, police said. It was followed around two hours later by a car bomb blast next to a parked military patrol jeep in Iligan City.
The second blast wounded at least 24 people, including three soldiers, the military said.
The names of the fatalities were unavailable as of press time.
Before midnight Monday, two explosions toppled a transmission tower in Upper Paiton, Kauswagan town in Lanao del Norte. No casualties were reported.
Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa placed regional units on full alert and ordered them to coordinate closely with the local crisis management committees.
“Post-blast investigation will continue after we have rendered the crime scene safe for our technicians,” Verzosa said in a statement.
“The investigation will gather evidence and seek to determine any peculiar signature in the improvised explosive devices, and to determine if the three incidents in Cotabato, Jolo and Iligan were coordinated,” his statement read.
He said placing the Mindanao police on full alert will “prevent the situation from getting out of hand.”
Police Superintendent Jose Bayani Gucela, spokesman of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operation (DIPO) Western Mindanano, clarified that there were only two casualties in the Jolo blast and not six as earlier reported. He added the wounded numbered 27 and not 40. The number of the wounded, however, reached 34 last night.
The Jolo blast was just outside the municipal hall in Jolo and less than a block away from the Mt. Carmel Cathedral.
“This is a signature bomb attack of the Abu Sayyaf,” Sabban said, speaking on local radio. He said that the bomb was hidden beneath the saddle of a motorcycle that was parked outside a downtown hardware store.
The storeowner was killed instantly.
Sabban said a bomb squad was defusing a roadside explosive discovered close to the cathedral when the motorcycle bomb went off nearby.
Philippine Navy spokesperson Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said most of the wounded victims in the Jolo blast were in critical condition.
“Our initial report showed that a motorcycle parked near the store allegedly with wire connected to it was noticed, prompting concerned citizens to report the sighting to the police. An explosion followed just as policemen were responding to the information,” Arevalo said in a text message to reporters.
Jolo Mayor Hussin Amin said the motorcycle was left unattended for a few hours, arousing suspicion. The bomb exploded just as three officers were approaching the vehicle, wounding them.
Sulu Area Coordinating Center head Fadzlur Abdullah said they were still checking hospitals to determine the identities of the victims.
“I was about to leave from the doorstep of my house when I heard the loud explosion,” Abdullah said.
Most of the wounded were students on their way to school, and authorities suspended classes in Jolo for fear of more attacks.
The car bomb in Iligan City was detonated by cell phone moments after a military jeep pulled up next to the vehicle, said police chief Leonardo Esclamado.
At least nine civilians were among the wounded, he said. But reports said 24 people were hurt in the blast.
He said a bomb squad was sifting through the wrecked car to determine the type of explosives used, although initial reports said an 81 mm mortal shell was used, similar to the one that exploded in Cotabato City.
PNP’s K-9 personnel said the bomb was planted in an old Mitsubishi Lancer parked outside a pawnshop and an electronic parts store at the corner of Cabili Ave. and Sabayle Street. The explosion tore the car apart and sent metal pieces flying to as far away as 75 meters, initial reports said.
Abu Sayyaf terrorists have been blamed for a string of bombings and kidnappings, most recently of three Red Cross workers in Sulu in January. They are still holding one of them, Italian Eugenio Vagni.
“The (Jolo) commercial district area was packed with people when the explosion happened,” Sabban said on local radio. “All our doctors and nurses are already there in the area taking care of the victims.”
Police disarmed another bomb near Jolo’s Mount Carmel Catholic cathedral while a third suspicious package was also found and safely detonated.
Yesterday’s bombings came just two days after a bomb exploded outside the Immaculate Conception cathedral in Cotabato City, killing five people and wounding many others.
The number of deaths in that attack, which was blamed on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), rose to six yesterday, when one of the more than 50 people wounded died of his injuries, officials said.
He said foreign militants from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) had recently trained dozens of local bombers for missions in the south.
Since January, there had been about 56 bombings in Mindanao, some of them targeting troops, but most of them killing or maiming civilians, he added.
Palace deputy spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said government remained open to resuming peace talks with the MILF, stressing that the authorities have yet to determine which group was behind the attacks.
“We strongly condemn the people behind this act of needless violence,” Fajardo said at Malacañang. “Nothing could be accomplished through violence.”
Sabban said it was not clear whether the Abu Sayyaf attack on Jolo was linked with the MILF attack, although both groups were known to have helped each other in the past.
Brawner said the bombers underwent bomb and explosive demolition training under the supervision of the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah.
The MILF denied the accusation, saying it doesn’t have an SOG or any connections with the Indonesia-based JI.
The Abu Sayyaf has been on the run from a military offensive launched after the kidnapping in January of Vagni and two other Red Cross workers, a Filipina and a Swiss. They were separately freed in April.
It is thought that Vagni is being held hostage in the dense jungles of Jolo, and the 62-year-old has been in poor health, according to authorities.
In May, Gov. Abdusakur Tan escaped a roadside bomb attack by the Abu Sayyaf that wounded five of his bodyguards.
Malaysian-brokered peace talks between the government and the MILF collapsed last year after the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
Sabban said the Jolo and Cotabato blasts appeared to be unrelated but had the same effect: sowing terror and panic.
Unlike the Moro rebels, who are pursuing on-and-off talks with the government, the Abu Sayyaf is considered a terrorist organization because of its al-Qaeda links and many terrorist attacks, including ones on Americans.
The group and its allies, numbering about 400, have turned to kidnappings to make money in recent years, raising concerns among Philippine and US security officials that ransom payments could revive the group, which has been weakened by years of US-backed offensives.
Earlier, a female witness said she saw a man leave a suspicious looking plastic container outside the cathedral before the blast. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Edith Regalado, Lino dela Cruz, Dennis Carcamo, AP
By Roel Pareño and Jaime Laude Updated July 08, 2009 12:00 AM
| Zoom
The blasts came two days after the deadly explosion outside a crowded cathedral in Cotabato City on Sunday.
The first bomb exploded in a commercial area in Jolo, killing two people and wounding around 30, police said. It was followed around two hours later by a car bomb blast next to a parked military patrol jeep in Iligan City.
The second blast wounded at least 24 people, including three soldiers, the military said.
The names of the fatalities were unavailable as of press time.
Before midnight Monday, two explosions toppled a transmission tower in Upper Paiton, Kauswagan town in Lanao del Norte. No casualties were reported.
Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa placed regional units on full alert and ordered them to coordinate closely with the local crisis management committees.
“Post-blast investigation will continue after we have rendered the crime scene safe for our technicians,” Verzosa said in a statement.
“The investigation will gather evidence and seek to determine any peculiar signature in the improvised explosive devices, and to determine if the three incidents in Cotabato, Jolo and Iligan were coordinated,” his statement read.
He said placing the Mindanao police on full alert will “prevent the situation from getting out of hand.”
Police Superintendent Jose Bayani Gucela, spokesman of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operation (DIPO) Western Mindanano, clarified that there were only two casualties in the Jolo blast and not six as earlier reported. He added the wounded numbered 27 and not 40. The number of the wounded, however, reached 34 last night.
Usual suspects
Anti-terror task force Comet chief Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban blamed the Abu Sayyaf for the Jolo blast. Jolo is a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf bandits.The Jolo blast was just outside the municipal hall in Jolo and less than a block away from the Mt. Carmel Cathedral.
“This is a signature bomb attack of the Abu Sayyaf,” Sabban said, speaking on local radio. He said that the bomb was hidden beneath the saddle of a motorcycle that was parked outside a downtown hardware store.
The storeowner was killed instantly.
Sabban said a bomb squad was defusing a roadside explosive discovered close to the cathedral when the motorcycle bomb went off nearby.
Philippine Navy spokesperson Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said most of the wounded victims in the Jolo blast were in critical condition.
“Our initial report showed that a motorcycle parked near the store allegedly with wire connected to it was noticed, prompting concerned citizens to report the sighting to the police. An explosion followed just as policemen were responding to the information,” Arevalo said in a text message to reporters.
Jolo Mayor Hussin Amin said the motorcycle was left unattended for a few hours, arousing suspicion. The bomb exploded just as three officers were approaching the vehicle, wounding them.
Sulu Area Coordinating Center head Fadzlur Abdullah said they were still checking hospitals to determine the identities of the victims.
“I was about to leave from the doorstep of my house when I heard the loud explosion,” Abdullah said.
Most of the wounded were students on their way to school, and authorities suspended classes in Jolo for fear of more attacks.
The car bomb in Iligan City was detonated by cell phone moments after a military jeep pulled up next to the vehicle, said police chief Leonardo Esclamado.
At least nine civilians were among the wounded, he said. But reports said 24 people were hurt in the blast.
He said a bomb squad was sifting through the wrecked car to determine the type of explosives used, although initial reports said an 81 mm mortal shell was used, similar to the one that exploded in Cotabato City.
PNP’s K-9 personnel said the bomb was planted in an old Mitsubishi Lancer parked outside a pawnshop and an electronic parts store at the corner of Cabili Ave. and Sabayle Street. The explosion tore the car apart and sent metal pieces flying to as far away as 75 meters, initial reports said.
Abu Sayyaf terrorists have been blamed for a string of bombings and kidnappings, most recently of three Red Cross workers in Sulu in January. They are still holding one of them, Italian Eugenio Vagni.
“The (Jolo) commercial district area was packed with people when the explosion happened,” Sabban said on local radio. “All our doctors and nurses are already there in the area taking care of the victims.”
Police disarmed another bomb near Jolo’s Mount Carmel Catholic cathedral while a third suspicious package was also found and safely detonated.
Yesterday’s bombings came just two days after a bomb exploded outside the Immaculate Conception cathedral in Cotabato City, killing five people and wounding many others.
The number of deaths in that attack, which was blamed on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), rose to six yesterday, when one of the more than 50 people wounded died of his injuries, officials said.
Not isolated case
President Arroyo’s senior adviser for Mindanao Jesus Dureza said the spate of bombings appeared to be coordinated. “This is no longer isolated, but orchestrated,” Dureza told reporters in Cotabato.He said foreign militants from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) had recently trained dozens of local bombers for missions in the south.
Since January, there had been about 56 bombings in Mindanao, some of them targeting troops, but most of them killing or maiming civilians, he added.
Palace deputy spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said government remained open to resuming peace talks with the MILF, stressing that the authorities have yet to determine which group was behind the attacks.
“We strongly condemn the people behind this act of needless violence,” Fajardo said at Malacañang. “Nothing could be accomplished through violence.”
Sabban said it was not clear whether the Abu Sayyaf attack on Jolo was linked with the MILF attack, although both groups were known to have helped each other in the past.
MILF’s JI link
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., citing intelligence reports, said new recruits of the MILF’s so-called special operations group (SOG) were behind the bombings as part of their test mission.Brawner said the bombers underwent bomb and explosive demolition training under the supervision of the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah.
The MILF denied the accusation, saying it doesn’t have an SOG or any connections with the Indonesia-based JI.
The Abu Sayyaf has been on the run from a military offensive launched after the kidnapping in January of Vagni and two other Red Cross workers, a Filipina and a Swiss. They were separately freed in April.
It is thought that Vagni is being held hostage in the dense jungles of Jolo, and the 62-year-old has been in poor health, according to authorities.
In May, Gov. Abdusakur Tan escaped a roadside bomb attack by the Abu Sayyaf that wounded five of his bodyguards.
Malaysian-brokered peace talks between the government and the MILF collapsed last year after the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
Sabban said the Jolo and Cotabato blasts appeared to be unrelated but had the same effect: sowing terror and panic.
Unlike the Moro rebels, who are pursuing on-and-off talks with the government, the Abu Sayyaf is considered a terrorist organization because of its al-Qaeda links and many terrorist attacks, including ones on Americans.
The group and its allies, numbering about 400, have turned to kidnappings to make money in recent years, raising concerns among Philippine and US security officials that ransom payments could revive the group, which has been weakened by years of US-backed offensives.
Video evidence
Meanwhile, investigators said the deadly explosion outside the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cotabato City might have been recorded by a close circuit TV camera at a nearby office of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.Earlier, a female witness said she saw a man leave a suspicious looking plastic container outside the cathedral before the blast. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Edith Regalado, Lino dela Cruz, Dennis Carcamo, AP
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