Bomb explodes in Zamboanga City ahead of general elections

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 8, 2010) – An improvised bomb exploded on Saturday in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines ahead of general elections next week, police said.

Police said the blast occurred shortly before 5.30 a.m. in downtown area near the City Hall. No one was reported injured or killed in the attack.

Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, the chief of the local police force, said the bomb was planted near a shrine for war veterans along Rizal Street. “There is an investigation going on,” he said.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the bombing and the motive of the attack is still unknown, but authorities have previously linked Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to Jemaah Islamiya and al-Qaeda terror network and Moro rebels.

More than 50 million Filipinos are to elect their new leaders in Monday’s general elections in the country’s first automated polls.

Last year, three small explosions occurred in three areas in downtown Zamboanga City, although there were no reports of casualties.

In 2008, a series of bombings killed and wounded more than a dozen people in Zamboanga City, where the two rebel groups are known to be actively operating. (Mindanao Examiner)