9 people wounded in Philippines bombings

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 5, 2008) – Nine people were injured in separate bomb explosions in the restive region of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, officials said on Friday.

The attacks occurred after security forces arrested a Bangladeshi terror suspect in Shariff Kabunsuan, one of six provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

The first explosion wounded six civilians late Thursday in downtown Isulan in Sultan Kudarat province. It was followed by another attack Friday morning wounding an army soldier and two other civilians near Bagong village in Shariff Aguak, the hometown of the region’s Muslim governor Zaldy Ampatuan.

“We suspect the MILF as behind all these bombings, who else would do that, but the MILF rebels,” Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Ando was referring to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, which is fighting for self-determination in the troubled South.

The army also linked the MILF to last week’s bomb attack on a church of the Jehova’s Witness in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province, a rebel stronghold in Mindanao.

Five other bombs were planted on the same church and the Iglesia Ni Cristo in recent days had been disarmed by soldiers.

The MILF strongly denied all accusations. “The MILF has nothing to do with all these bombings. Authorities should investigate these attacks to determine who is behind it. We have repeatedly and publicly denounced terrorism, we are for peace,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said in a separate interview.

Authorities on Tuesday arrested Muhammad Alpariz, an alleged Bangladeshi al-Qaeda bomb expert, after soldiers and police commandos raided his hideout in the village of Tapayan in Sultan Mastura town in the Muslim autonomous province of Shariff Kabunsuan.

Soldiers and policemen recovered from Alpariz's hideout several improvised explosives assembled from mortar bombs and blasting caps, including cellular phones and an alarm clock.

It was not immediately known if Alpariz was working alone or whether he had links with the MILF. But his Filipino wife, Sulaika Rafiquellah, said her husband was not Muhammad Alpariz, but Mohammad Rafiquellah.

She said her 48-year old husband is not a terrorist and not a member of either the al-Qaeda or Jemaah Islamiya. In a television interview, Rafiquellah said her husband had been framed up by authorities. "He is a farmer, a mechanic and has a cell phone repair shop in Sultan Mastura town," she said.

The foreigner also denied the charges against him. (Mindanao Examiner)

Bomb Explodes, Another Found In Southern Philippines

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 8, 2008) – A homemade bomb exploded early Monday at a market area and a second explosive was disarmed in the southern Philippines, where troops are pursuing are battling Moro rebels, officials said.

Officials said there were no reports of casualties from the blast that occurred at around 4 a.m. at the entrance of main market in the town of Isulan in Sultan Kudarat province. A second bomb was also discovered and disarmed by soldiers in Tacurong City also in the province, said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a regional army spokesman.

“It’s good that no one was hurt or killed in the blast. We still don’t know who was behind this, but clearly this is part of a terror campaign and we appeal to the public to stay vigilant,” Ando told the Mindanao Examiner.

Ando said the homemade planted at the market’s entrance probably exploded prematurely. “The market usually opens at about five in the morning and the bomb exploded an hour earlier,” he said.

He said the second explosive was planted outside the Julsom bakery just across the Tamondong hospital in nearby Tacurong City, east of Isulan town, but the bomb was discovered before it could explode.

The bomb was assembled from a mortar head and connected to a mobile phone that was used to trigger detonation, but it apparently malfunctioned and failed to explode.

No group claimed responsibility for the bombing or to the failed attack, but Ando said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had used similar bombs in the past and were probably behind it.

The MILF, which is currently negotiation peace with Manila, is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for independence in the restive region on Mindanao, but the negotiations were stalled after two rebel commanders Ameril Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar led a series of deadly attacks in Mindanao.

Security forces were pursuing hundreds of rebels involved in the attacks and sporadic fighting had killed dozens of people in recent weeks and forced more than 200,000 civilians to flee their homes in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)