DAVAO/COTABATO, 9 April 2003 — Security forces yesterday arrested two suspects in two deadly bombings in the southern city of Davao, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her officials said.
Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, an army division commander in Central Mindanao, said Esmael Musa Akmad, 26, alias Toto and Jabi Bagundang Fermin alias Tahome Urong were arrested in the city of Cotabato and have admitted their role in the blasts.
“Initial interrogation revealed that the suspects admitted to the bombing incidents at Sasa wharf on April 2 and the waiting lounge of the Davao international aiport on March 4,” Senga told reporters.
The airport bombing left 22 people dead, including a US national, while 16 people were killed in the wharf attack.
Investigators were still “determining the suspects’ group affiliation,” Senga said.
President Gloria Arroyo praised the military and police for the arrests and said that there was also evidence that Indonesians with links to the Al-Qaeda could have helped carry out the attacks.
An Indonesian official vowed full cooperation to help determine if his compatriots were indeed involved in the bombing of Sasa wharf in Davao, killing 16 people and many others injured last month. “We are on the same side,” said Johannes Manginsela, Indonesian vice consul in Davao City. “We will cooperate in the investigation.”
Nothing to Prove
Authorities earlier charged leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and its members for the bombings.
“Looking at the records the sole basis on the MILF implication has anchored on the theory that one of the victim himself identified as Muntasir Sudang, 19 years and a native of Simoni, Kabacan, North Cotabato has been suspected as suicide bomber.
“To substantiate this allegation, the military has to manufacture documents showing that Sudang was indeed an MILF member. These documents include bio-data and application for member in the MILF,” said Kabalu in a press statement.
He said the MILF has refuted this allegation, saying the submission of bio-data and application for membership to the MILF is not required by the Front.
Moreover, he said, the entire officialdom of the town of Kabacan, North Cotabato, led by Mayor Luz Tan testified that Sudang was indeed a civilian not connected with the MILF either as member or a bomber as pronounced by the authority.
“Tan even disclosed what she called a pressure from the military wherein she was asked by the latter to admit Sudang,s connection with the MILF, but instead chooses to remain on the side of the truth,” said Kabalu.
Threat on Mosques
Tensions continued to grip the southern Philippines esterday as another blast, this time near Pagadian City, led to the discovery of two bombs outside a mosque, the Radio Mindanao Network reported.
Police and army bomb experts, responding to a loud explosion in the village of Banale, found two 60 mm mortars with timing devices and blasting caps outside the mosque and an adjacent Arabic school owned by an Islamic aid association, Radio Mindanao said.
Police later said they were investigating a man with what appeared to be blast injuries on the legs and ankle.
The man, who was taken by police to a hospital, may have been injured while making a bomb that accidentally exploded in the mosque, provincial police chief Godofredo delos Santos said.
