ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 15 Oct) - Security forces disarmed Sunday two homemade bombs planted at a market in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province, days after a spate of bombings blamed on the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiya terror network, killed at least 14 people in the restive region.
A Philippine military spokesman, Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said the bomb was discovered by patrolling soldiers and militias at around 3 a.m. at the gate of the Agora market in downtown Pagadian. The bomb, he said, was disarmed by soldiers.
He did not say who were behind the failed bombing, but soldiers recovered two bombs assembled from a 40mm and 60mm mortars.
"There is an investigation going on and we still don't know who was behind this foiled attempt to bomb the market," Bacarro told the Mindanao Examiner.
Pagadian, a bustling city and center of trade and commerce in Western Mindanao, was bombed in the past and authorities had linked the Abu Sayyaf and radical members of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the attacks.
But intelligence officials said they see the signature of the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya in the foiled bombing. "There is a signature and it points to the Abu Sayyaf and the JI. We can't say at this time whether the MILF was a part of this attempt to blow up the market," one army intelligence officer.
The bombings last week in the southern region were believed in retaliation to the arrest of the Indonesian wife and two children of Jemaah Islamiya bomber, Dulmatin, in Jolo island. Istiada Oemar Sovie and her two boys ages 6 and 8 were arrested after Filipino soldiers pursuing Dulmatin raided a terrorist hideout in Patikul town.
Army and police commanders in Zamboanga del Sur province would not talk to reporters and ignored phone calls.
Dulmatin and his companion Umar Patek, who is also hiding in Jolo island are both wanted by Indonesia for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people and the 2003 JW Mariot hotel bombing in Jakarta.
A homemade bomb exploded Oct. 11 in Cotabato City, the 3rd in less than 24 hours in the restive Central Mindanao region, where two bombs killed at least 14 people at a market in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat province and in the busy business center of Makilala town in North Cotabato province.
The governor of North Cotabato, Emmanuel Pinol, linked an MILF leader -- Basit Usman -- to the attack in Makilala town, but the rebel group strongly denied the accusation.
"We have nothing to do with the bombings. The MILF is currently negotiating peace with the Philippine government and we are sincere with the talks. There is a cease-fire agreement and the MILF is not part in any of these terrorist activities," a rebel spokesman, Eid Kabalu, said.
The military said the Abu Sayyaf headed by Khadaffy Janjalani is protecting Dulmatin and Patek in Jolo island. As many as 31 Jemaah Islamiya militants are believed hiding in the southern Philippines, particularly in Mindanao where the MILF is actively operating, it said.
No group or individual claimed responsibility for all the bombings. (Mindanao Examiner)
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