- MANILA: Police say Al-Qaeda-linked militants have set off a bomb on a bridge in a restive southern province and succeeded in their second attempt to stop military and other vehicles from using it.
Chief Inspector Amil Baanan of the Sulu provincial police says no one was hurt in Saturday’s pre-dawn blast by Abu Sayyaf militants on the bridge in Patikul township. But the bridge is now impassable to all vehicles.
Baanan says Abu Sayyaf militants also damaged the bridge with a bomb in October.
Regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang says the militants regard roads and bridges as “avenues to infiltrate their safe havens.”
The Abu Sayyaf is on the US list of terrorist organizations. American special forces are helping train and arm Filipino soldiers fighting the group.
