Eight dead, 19 injured in powerful blast in RP
Eight dead, 19 injured in powerful blast in RP
Agencies, Cotabato, Philippines
At least eight people were killed and 19 others wounded on
Thursday after a bomb ripped through a bus terminal in the
southern Philippines, police and military said.
Initial police investigations showed the communist New
People's Army (NPA) was behind the powerful blast, but the
military has not ruled out the country's largest Moro separatist
movement as among suspects.
Officials feared the death toll from the explosion, the second
in the troubled south in about a week, could rise as many of
those wounded were in a critical condition.
Witnesses claimed the bomb was hurled into a group of waiting
commuters shortly before 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. Jakarta time) in
Kidapawan city, some 940 kilometers (582 miles) south of Manila,
city police chief Superintendent Casimiro Medes said.
A woman and a child were killed on the spot while the rest
succumbed to wounds in hospital. Some of the 19 wounded were
children.
"It could be either the handiwork of the NPA or the MILF (Moro
Islamic Liberation Front) because it (the area where the blast
occurred) is situated in the boundary where the NPA and the MILF
operate," Local army spokesman Major Julieto Ando said.
Ando said bomb experts who sifted through the rubble believe
the bomb detonated under a bench near the ticketing booth.
The booth was totally destroyed along with two buses parked
nearby.
Police chief Medes said the attack could have been launched by
the NPA to press its demand for illegal "revolutionary taxes"
from the bus company.
"We are looking into the possibility of the involvement of the
NPA who in the past were extorting money from the bus firm," he
said.
The NPA, which has been included by the U.S. government on its
list of foreign terrorist organizations, is the armed wing of the
Communist Party of the Philippines which has waged an insurgency
against Manila for 33 years.
The military said, however, it was not ruling out the
involvement of the MILF which also operates in the area.
The MILF, with an estimated force of more than 12,000
fighters, has been waging a guerrilla war for a separate Islamic
state in the south since 1978 when it split with the larger Moro
National Liberation Front. The MNLF signed a peace pact with
Manila in 1996.
President Gloria Arroyo launched peace talks with the MILF
when she assumed office in 2001, leading to a cease-fire accord.
Both the NPA and the MILF had earlier said they have an
existing "tactical alliance" in areas where they both operate.
Thursday's attack was the second in the southern Philippines
since Oct. 2, when suspected Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas
detonated a bomb in Zamboanga city, killing a U.S. serviceman and
three Filipinos.
A homemade bomb similar to the one used in the Oct. 2 attack
was meanwhile recovered from a commuter vehicle in Zamboanga on
Thursday.
The bomb was stashed on a mini-bus by an unidentified
passenger late Wednesday and was discovered later by the driver,
regional police chief Simeon Dizon said.
Separately, a Jordanian man detained for immigration
irregularities was suspected to be linked to the Zamboanga
attack, but officials said on Thursday he was likely to be
deported soon as police did not have evidence to press criminal
charges against him.
The 36-year-old man was taken into custody on Tuesday in
Manila for violating immigration laws.