By Joel Guinto, Thea Alberto
INQUIRER.net, Associated Press
Last updated 02:54am (Mla time) 01/11/2007
MANILA -- (2ND UPDATE) At least seven people were killed while 29 others were wounded after bomb blasts rocked three cities on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao Wednesday night, eve of the Asian summits in Cebu province, officials said.At 6:10 p.m., an improvised bomb went off in front of a busy lottery ticket store in General Santos City, which has been menaced by Islamist extremists in the past, killing at least six people and injuring 20 others.
Less than three hours later at 8:45 p.m., another improvised bomb ripped through a police outpost in Kidapawan City, leaving two passers-by injured.
At 10:22 p.m., a third explosion killed a garbage collector and wounded five others after a bomb rocked downtown Cotabato City, about 170 kilometers (106 miles) northwest of General Santos.
The blasts came as leaders from 16 countries were preparing for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and East Asian summits in the central Philippine province of Cebu.
The first blast tore apart the lottery outlet across the public market in General Santos City, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) southeast of Manila, said Senior Superintendent Alfredo Toroctocon, the city police chief.
He said three people died instantly and another two succumbed to wounds. Staff at the St. Elizabeth Hospital in the city reported another person died on arrival, bringing the death toll to six, among them boys aged 8 and 12.
The bodies of the victims were cut into pieces by the blast, which was heard throughout the predominantly Christian city. Pieces of nails, which had been packed in the bomb, littered the area.
Vendors at the city public market told the Philippine Daily Inquirer it was the most powerful bomb that ever exploded in the city.
"We could feel the ground shaking and the sound was deafening," said a stall vendor who asked not to named.
Chief Superintendent German Doria, the regional police chief, said police had no suspects immediately but that the regional militant network Jemaah Islamiyah and its ally, the local Abu Sayyaf group, "usually are the ones doing all these explosions in the region."
But he said police also were looking into the possibility that the first blast stemmed from the failure of the lottery outlet operator to pay winners of a lottery draw.
"This Lotto outlet closed three days ago because many bettors won ... then all of a sudden an explosion occurred in front of the Lotto outlet," Doria said.
The second bomb went off along the highway in front of a police detachment in Kidapawan City, about 110 kilometers (65 miles) north of General Santos city, Colonel Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army's 6th Infantry Division operating in Central Mindanao, told INQUIRER.net. Two passers-by were injured.
Army spokesman Major Ernesto Torres, in a text message, said four people were wounded in the explosion. He could not give further details.
Senior police officer Pascual Peroy said the bomb was placed near the perimeter fence of the police outpost just after police on duty left the outpost to go on patrol.
A teenager seen walking near the police outpost was wounded and another male passer-by was hit by shrapnel, Peroy said. Doctors had to amputate the arm of the teenager, identified only as Boy Rivas, he added.
The third explosion at a dumpsite along a major street in Cotabato City appeared to be from an improvised bomb, although it could also have been a grenade, said city police spokesman Senior Inspector Samson Obatay.
"We think it was planted there on purpose, and was mixed with the garbage," he said in a telephone interview.
Obatay said police suspect the Cotabato blast was the handiwork of terrorists and linked to the two earlier blasts, in General Santos and Kidapawan cities. Authorities could not say which group was behind them.
The attacks came amid stepped up military offensives against Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah militants on the nearby island of Jolo, where more than 5,000 troops are hunting them down.
Both are on the US government's list of foreign terrorist organizations, and its members have been on the run from a massive manhunt on southern Jolo island.
All three cities have been hit by terror bombings blamed on these groups in the past.
On Tuesday, police said they detonated an explosive device planted near a bank in Iligan City. Senior Superintendent Virgilio Ranes, city police director, ordered policemen to isolate the area for the detonation, which caused a loud explosion that hurt no one.
The attacks also came amid warnings that militants may try to disrupt this week's ASEAN and East Asian summits in Cebu.
Philippine National Police chief Oscar Calderon, who is in Cebu to oversee security for the summit, said earlier Wednesday that militants may try to embarrass the government, a staunch US ally in counter-terrorism, by staging attacks during the twin summits.
The government postponed the summits last month citing an approaching typhoon even as foreign embassies earlier warned terrorists might stage attacks during the weeklong regional meeting.
Chief Superintendent Romeo Ricardo, director of the national police Intelligence Group, said police and army troops have launched operations against militants throughout the archipelago to prevent them from carrying out attacks.
Torres said the General Santos explosion could be the handiwork of groups out to sabotage peace negotiations between the government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has waged a decades-old struggle for Muslim homeland in the south.
"We are looking at the possible involvement of saboteurs to the peace negotiations between the GRP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines] and the MILF considering the timing and location of the bombing," Torres said.
He said the bombing occurred at the culmination of a two-day meeting between rebel and government representatives in General Santos.
Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, condemned the bomb attacks and urged police and other law enforcement agencies to do their best to bring perpetrators to justice.
Kabalu said the MILF, which signed a ceasefire with Manila in 2003 to open the door to peace talks, had nothing to do with the blasts and would never "tolerate or do such a demonic act."
In February 2005 a bomb believed planted by the Abu Sayyaf group killed three people and wounded 13 others in General Santos City.
The Abu Sayyaf has carried out the worst kidnapping and bombing attacks in the Philippines.
Representatives of 16 countries will attend the January 13-15 ASEAN and East Asia summits in Cebu.
With reports from Charlie Señase, Allan Nawal, Rolly Pinsoy and Richel Umel, Inquirer Mindanao; and Agence France-Presse
Click here to access article as posted on INQUIRER.net
No comments:
Post a Comment