Friday, January 05, 2007

Bomb Attack In Southern Philippines Injures 2 People

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 05 Jan) – At least two people were injured in a bomb explosion Friday in downtown Cotabato City in the southern Filipino province of Maguindanao, police and military said.

Police said the blast occurred on Macacua Street at around 11.05 a.m. just “We are still awaiting reports. Our investigators are still at the scene,” police officer Ray Gamut told the Mindanao Examiner.

Policemen and soldiers also recovered and disarmed two more homemade bombs, assembled from 60mm mortar heads.

The explosion shattered glass windows of several restaurants, but caused little damage to buildings near the blast site.

No group admitted to the attack, but police and military believed the bombing was the handiwork of Moro rebels tied to the Jemaah Islamiya and the Abu Sayyaf. Both groups were previously linked to similar attacks in the region.

Last week, two people were also injured in a bomb explosion inside the Kensan Mall in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat province near Maguindanao.

The bomb, smuggled undetected by security guards, was left at the mall’s baggage counter where it exploded. An Abu Sayyaf spokesman, Abu Solaiman, later claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The military said the leader of the Abu Sayyaf Khadaffy Janjalani was killed in a clash in September in Patikul town in Jolo island and that his remains had been recovered by soldiers from a shallow grave.

Janjalani took over command of the Abu Sayyaf when his brother, Abubakar Abdurajak Janjalani, who founded the group, was killed in a firefight with policemen in 1998 in Basilan Island.

Troops were still hunting Janjalani’s lieutenants and two Jemaah Islamiyah militants Umar Patek and Dulmatin, whom Abu Sayyaf gunmen are believed to be protecting on Jolo, about 950 kms south of Manila. Both Patek and Dulmatin are wanted for the October 2002 bombings in the resort Indonesian island of Bali in which 202 mostly foreign tourists were killed. (Mindanao Examiner)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hunt for the Culprits. Hunt!