Blast hits Zamboanga City anew

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 20, 2010) – Police mounted a massive search Thursday for two motorcycle men blamed for an explosion in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga.

Local police chief Edwin de Ocampo said security forces were searching for the men who were behind the explosion late Wednesday in the village of Putik, just several kilometers east of downtown Zamboanga.

No one was hurt in the blast and police is still investigating the components of the explosive. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the explosion, but police said the blast occurred on a pile of garbage.

The explosion, which was heard loudly in the neighboring village of Tetuan, sent residents into panic thinking Abu Sayyaf militants had attacked again.

The Abu Sayyaf was blamed for deadly bombings in the past in Zamboanga City. It was not immediately known whether it had a hand in the latest bombing.

An improvised bomb also exploded in Zamboanga City early this month, although no was nobody was killed or injured in the attack.

The May 8 blast occurred shortly before 5.30 a.m. in downtown area near the City Hall where the explosive was planted.

Last year, three small explosions occurred in three areas in downtown Zamboanga City, but there were no reports of casualties. In 2008, a series of Abu Sayyaf bombings killed and wounded more than a dozen people in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)