DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 25, 2008) – Police and military on Friday tightened security in the southern Philippines following a bombing of a commuter bus that killed one passenger and wounded at least 35 others in Digos City in Davao del Sur province.
Police said one of the injured in the blast died on Friday and that at least 35 people were injured in the attack believed carried out by the al-Khobar gang, blamed for the spate of bombings and extortion activities in Mindanao.
Police is also investigating reports that a woman who posed as passenger was behind Thursday attack on the bus owned by the family of Mayor Rey Uy, of Tagum City.
Three days before the bombing, Uy said unidentified men demanded P500,000 from his bus firm and P50,000 every month as protection money. Uy said the men also threatened to bomb his buses if he will not pay up.
“We have reports that the al-Khobar was behind the attack and that a woman carried out the bombing,” Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Decapia alsop corrected military reports that two people were killed in the bombing. Decapia said the military is investigating the blast and the type of explosive used in the attack. He said the al-Khobar gang is composed mostly of Filipino terrorists and some of them were former Muslim rebels trained by the Indonesian militant grouped called Jemaah Islamiya.
“Most of the members of this group were trained by JI terrorists in the manufacture of homemade bombs and we have stepped up efforts to locate them and stop their terrorist activities,” he said.
On Tuesdays, government troops also recovered a motorcycle rigged with explosives in nearby Maguindanao province. The military said the motorbike was abandoned by its driver due to flat tires before it could a government checkpoint in Ampatuan town.
The military said it had received intelligence reports that terrorists were planning to attack civilian targets using motorcycles rigged with explosives. Military explosives' experts found an improvised explosive device composed of TNT on the motorbike's engine and connected to a detonator and a cellular phone that served as triggering device. (Mindanao Examiner)
Police said one of the injured in the blast died on Friday and that at least 35 people were injured in the attack believed carried out by the al-Khobar gang, blamed for the spate of bombings and extortion activities in Mindanao.
Police is also investigating reports that a woman who posed as passenger was behind Thursday attack on the bus owned by the family of Mayor Rey Uy, of Tagum City.
Three days before the bombing, Uy said unidentified men demanded P500,000 from his bus firm and P50,000 every month as protection money. Uy said the men also threatened to bomb his buses if he will not pay up.
“We have reports that the al-Khobar was behind the attack and that a woman carried out the bombing,” Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Decapia alsop corrected military reports that two people were killed in the bombing. Decapia said the military is investigating the blast and the type of explosive used in the attack. He said the al-Khobar gang is composed mostly of Filipino terrorists and some of them were former Muslim rebels trained by the Indonesian militant grouped called Jemaah Islamiya.
“Most of the members of this group were trained by JI terrorists in the manufacture of homemade bombs and we have stepped up efforts to locate them and stop their terrorist activities,” he said.
On Tuesdays, government troops also recovered a motorcycle rigged with explosives in nearby Maguindanao province. The military said the motorbike was abandoned by its driver due to flat tires before it could a government checkpoint in Ampatuan town.
The military said it had received intelligence reports that terrorists were planning to attack civilian targets using motorcycles rigged with explosives. Military explosives' experts found an improvised explosive device composed of TNT on the motorbike's engine and connected to a detonator and a cellular phone that served as triggering device. (Mindanao Examiner)
No comments:
Post a Comment