1 killed, 8 wounded in Zamboanga blast

Police crime scene investigators collect evidence from a bombing site in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines on Wednesday, October 26, 2011. One of three improvised explosives killed a civilian, Lodeto Ybañez, who inspected a baggage left at a roadside eatery in Sangali village, about 30 kms east of downtown Zamboanga. The blast left 8 others wounded. It was unknown who was behind the attack, but previous bombings had been largely blamed to the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 26, 2011) – One person was killed in a bomb blast late Wednesday and two more improvised explosives were detonated by the police on a village in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga, officials said.

Officials said eight more civilians were wounded in the explosion at a roadside eatery in the village of Sangali, about 30 kilometers east of downtown Zamboanga.

Two more bombs planted at a lottery outlet and at another site about 100 meters away were detonated, said Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, chief of the local police force.

De Ocampo said three improvised explosives were planted almost 100 meters apart from each other. He said a civilian was killed after he tinkered with one improvised bomb as policemen were detonating two other explosives.

“The civilian was killed on the spot by the powerful blast,” he said.

One police bomb expert said the bombs were assembled from ammonium nitrate-fuel oil and packed with concrete nails and detonator. The deadly chemical mixture is used primarily in mining and quarrying operations.

The military said it deployed troops to secure civilians in the area. It said no group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack. “We still don’t know the motive or who was behind it,” Army Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, told the Mindanao Examiner.

The blast occurred a day after patrolling troops clashed with suspected Abu Sayyaf militants at sea late Tuesday off the village of Taluksangay in Zamboanga City.

One soldier was killed and three others wounded after four heavily-armed men on motorboat attacked them.

Officials said the attack on the soldiers was in retaliation to the killing of Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Imran Asgari in a firefight with the military last month in Sacol Island.

Asgari was also linked by the military to the spate of kidnappings in Zamboanga Peninsula. (Mindanao Examiner)