9 Dead In New Bombings In Philippines

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 15 Jun) At least 9 people were killed in one of two commuter bus bombings on Friday in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said a bomb exploded inside a bus in the town of Bansalan in Davao del Sur province at around 6 p.m., killing as many as 9 passengers. At least seven more were injured in the blast, said Lt. Col. Rolando Bautista, of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

“We are still awaiting reports,” he said.

Another bomb exploded at a bus depot in Cotabato City in Maguindanao province, but there were no reports of casualties, said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

“The bombing in Cotabato left no casualties, unlike in Davao where nine people are reported dead. The authorities are on high alert now because of the bombings,” Ando told the regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the twin blasts, but Ando said the explosion in Cotabato City could be the handiwork of extortionists, saying, the bus firm, Weena Bus Lines, received a letter on Thursday demanding two million pesos as “protection money.”

“The extortion letter was signed by one Commander Barum Bado. We never heard of the name, not even on the military’s order of battle. It could be an alias to cover the real identity of the bomber,” Ando said.

On Tuesday, Police foiled a possible car bombing after a car, laden with explosives, was discovered abandoned near the municipal hall of Surallah in South Cotabato province.

An informant tipped off authorities about the car bomb. Provincial police chief Robert Kiunisala said the car contained mortar bombs rigged to electronic timers and other explosives that would trigger detonation.

Last week, at least eleven people were wounded in separate bus bombings in South Cotabato.

Eleven people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in separate bomb attacks last month in Mindanao, where security forces are battling members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and Jemaah Islamiya.

The United States, Canada and Britain have issued travel warnings and strongly advised their citizens not to travel to the southern part of the Philippines because of threats of terrorism and kidnappings of foreigners. (Mark Navales and Romy Bwaga)