MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / 24 Apr) – The Philippine military on Tuesday said it has no reports about an impending terror attacks by al-Qaeda-linked militants in the restive region of Mindanao, south of Manila.
The United States and Australia warned of terror attacks in the southern Philippines.
“It is relatively peaceful in many parts of Mindanao. We have not received reports about any specific threats,” a military spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro.
But a bomb explosion injured person on Sunday in Midsayap town in North Cotabato province.
Authorities said the bomb, assembled from a mortar rocket rigged to a timer, exploded on a roadside, wounding a woman. Police held two people in connection with the attack.
The United States, Australia and Canada have told their citizens not to travel to the southern Philippines because of heightened terror activities. Last week, Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to Al-Qaeda, beheaded six construction workers and a fisherman they kidnapped in Parang town in Jolo island.
The beheading came just four days after Jolo governor Benjamin Loong rejected the Abu Sayyaf demand of five million pesos ransom in exchange for the lives of the hostages, six of them were workers of the politician in his construction firm.
Families of the victims have blamed Loong for the death, saying, he should have opened negotiations with the kidnappers for the safe release of the hostages.
Loong insisted the government has a strict no-ransom policy and said he would pay for the funeral of all seven men.
Last month, Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels clashed with security forces in Midsayap town and forced tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes.
The MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, accused the military of breaking a fragile six-year old cease-fire agreement. MILF leaders said troops attacked rebel forces in the guise of pursuing the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya near their strongholds. (With reports from Juley Reyes and Mark Navales)
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