COTABATO CITY, 22 February 2003 — Soldiers and separatist guerrillas yesterday blamed each other as two bombs exploded in front of a mall and three more toppled a power pylon in the troubled southern Philippines.
Three people were injured when two 60 mm mortar rounds with timing devices blew up two cars parked in front of Koronadal Commercial Center mall, officials said. Koronadal, capital of South Cotabato province with a population of about 160,000, has generally escaped terror attacks, unlike nearby General Santos City that has been hit by deadly bombings in the past.
In North Cotabato province’s town of Carmen, bombs blasted two power pylons, cutting off electricity to more areas in Maguindanao and North Cotabato, which are already suffering from a power outage from earlier pylon bombings.
Police Supt. Romeo Rufino, South Cotabato’s provincial police chief, said the mall explosions injured a 32-year-old woman, a bus conductor and another man who police said they suspected was the bomber. One of the man’s arms was blown off.
Military, police and local officials said the likeliest perpetrators of the bombings were members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Provincial Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes also said the bombings could be related to fighting in central Mindanao last week between government troops and MILF that officials say left more than 160 people dead.
“We believe the MILF is behind this (bombing) because they want to retaliate,” said regional army spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando. “They have been knocked out in the boxing match so they are trying to get back at us through bombings and assassinations, which are terrorist acts.”
On Thursday, officials said suspected MILF rebels attacked Kalawit town in Zamboanga del Norte province. The gunmen rounded up some villagers and shot them, killing 14.
In another village about 300 kilometers (190 miles) away, a bomb apparently detonated prematurely in a market, killing the 17-year-old suspected attacker and wounding nine people, regional army spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando said.
Hours later, near the Cotabato airport, a car bomb exploded outside a restaurant, killing Cpl. Nelson Corpuz of the Second Scout Ranger Battalion and injuring at least six civilians, Ando said.
The MILF strongly denied any involvement in the bombings as well as the Kalawit massacre.
“The MILF has never been involved in any anti-people activity, such as massacres, bombings and killings of innocent people and the like, not even during the all-out war in year 2000,” MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.
Kabalu suggested that the Kalawit massacre could be the handiwork of government forces, probably in an attempt to have the United States tag the MILF as a “terrorist” organization.
“It is interesting to learn that those involved in the alleged massacre at Kalawit are all very fluent in Visayan dialect, wearing fatigue uniforms common to military and para-military forces,” he said in a press statement.
On the Kabakan blast, Kabalu noted that the place had been the scene of bombings and killings as a result of the rivalry of two political clans. He also noted that the military had already named a suspect ahead of the incident, identifying him as Emran Mohammad, a member of cease-fire monitoring team. “Clearly, this is an orchestrated move designed to pin down the MILF on the so called ‘terrorist’ link,” he said.
On the car bombing in the vicinity of the Cotabato airport, Kabalu said the place is heavily secured by soldiers. “Before reaching the airport area, one has to pass through several layers of military checkpoints,” he said, adding that rebels would not dare enter.
He said there are also speculations that a third party interest is out to take advantage of the confusion.
Early last year there had been several explosions that took place in the area of Maguindanao and Cotabato City but was claimed by another group claiming to have political objective.
Kabalu said that while the MILF High Command has given their field commanders leeway “to execute actions in pursuit of the Front’s defensive posture against the ongoing military offensive, such action is confined only to military targets.”
The latest bombings bring to at least eight the total number of power pylons toppled by over the last two weeks on Mindanao Island, officials said.
An attempt to bomb another power transmission tower in Pagagawan town in Maguindanao was foiled when farmers noticed a man carrying a bag containing a homemade bomb. The man apparently panicked and left the bag in the rice field near the power pylon, officials said.
