RP hunt bombers, questions rebel claim
RP hunt bombers, questions rebel claim
Manny Mogato, Reuters/Manila
Philippine security forces hunted on Tuesday for the bombers behind blasts in Manila and two other cities that killed 11 people on Valentine's Day, while investigating a Moro rebel claim of responsibility.
Abu Sayyaf, a small militant group linked to al-Qaeda, said it carried out the attacks in crowded public places on Monday to punish the government for a heavy military offensive on its strongholds on the southwestern island of Jolo.
"It's too early to tell," national security adviser Norberto Gonzales said of the claim of responsibility.
"We're looking at several angles, including the networking of foreign militants and home-grown rebel groups," he told Reuters.
The three blasts in the largely Roman Catholic country came closely together on Monday evening as people were traveling home, shopping and going out for dinner on Valentine's Day.
Six people were killed in Manila and five in two southern cities -- four in General Santos and one in Davao. More than 150 people were wounded in the three attacks.
Some security officers said the bombs could have been an attempt to distract the army as nearly 5,000 troops on Jolo battled about 800 Abu Sayyaf rebels and renegade members of another faction.
Army and police intelligence officials said they were not ruling the involvement of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a shadowy regional network linked to al-Qaeda and the suspected fund-raiser for previous attacks by Abu Sayyaf and other Philippine groups.
"We cannot accept the Abu Sayyaf's claim hook, line and sinker," a police counter-terrorism official told Reuters.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was determined to continue the offensive against the Abu Sayyaf rebels.
"We must not pull back but move forward to wipe out the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf," she said, rejecting calls for a truce on Jolo.
"This is not a fight against Islam."
At least 20 rebels and a soldier were killed in fighting on Jolo on Monday night as troops scoured jungles for rebels fleeing from air strikes, said Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza, the most senior commander in the southern Philippines.
The latest casualties brought to 110 rebels and troops killed since Feb. 7 when heavy fighting erupted on the island.
Edgardo Aglipay, the national police chief, said his 115,000 officers were on full alert to help in the hunt for the bombers.
He released two sketches of suspects in the attacks in Manila's business district and at a bus terminal in Davao but dismissed the Abu Sayyaf claim. The third blast was at a shopping mall in General Santos City.
"It could be a ploy to mislead our investigation," Aglipay said. "We want our findings to be backed by evidence."
In February 2004, more than 100 people were killed when a bomb planted by Abu Sayyaf sank a ferry near Manila Bay. Community leaders on Jolo had called for a truce and lawmakers, most of them Arroyo's allies, proposed allowing former separatist leader Nur Misuari to go into exile as a way of stopping the fighting.
Security analysts and Philippine officials say about 30 Indonesian militants from JI and other groups are active in the south, training and advising Philippine rebels.
Several prominent figures in JI, which is accused of the 2002 Bali bombings and other attacks in the region, have been arrested or killed in the Philippines.
But a police intelligence official said Monday's attack on the bus terminal in Manila looked to have been carried out by Abu Sayyaf working with a radical group of Christians who converted to Islam.