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.
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)
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