Monday, September 06, 2010

Bomb explodes in Southern Philippine town

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 6, 2010) – An improvised bomb exploded early Monday at a market in the restive province of Maguindanao in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said there were no reported casualties in the attack which occurred at around 3:45 a.m. in the village of Bulalo in Sultan Kudarat town. “We are investigating this explosion and the motive of the attack,” said Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Hao, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

He said an 81mm mortar bomb was believed used in the attack. It was the second bomb explosion since last week after an improvised explosive also went off at a bus depot in Maguindanao’s Cotabato City on Thursday night, although no casualties had been reported.

The latest bombing came a day after police and military tightened security in the southern Philippines following the killing in Sulu province of an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Gafur Jumdail and two other militants whose group is tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terrorists.

Jumdail, brother of a key militant leader, Umbra Abu Jumdail alias Dr Abu, was fatally shot by police commandos. Hao said troops were told to stay alert for possible retaliatory attacks by the Abu Sayyaf in civilian areas in Mindanao.

It was unknown whether the Abu Sayyaf, which means “bearer of the sword,” has anything to do with the attack. The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed by authorities to the spate of terrorism in the volatile region, where security forces are battling Muslim and communist insurgencies the past four decades. (Mindanao Examiner)

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