ZAMBOANGA CITY, 12 October 2006 — Another bomb exploded in central Mindanao yesterday, the 3rd in less than 24 hours, and authorities suspected the bombings were meant to ease pressure on Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah militants being pursued by government troops.
Officials said there were no reports of casualties in the latest bombing at around 11.45 a.m. in downtown Cotabato City. The bomb was assembled from an 81mm mortar, concealed in a bag and left on a sidewalk near the office of the United Coconut Planters Bank and a shopping mall along Don Rufino Alonzo Street.
“Fortunately, there were no casualties in the latest explosion,” Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the army’s 6th Infantry Division, told Arab News.
Police said the bomb was similar to the one that exploded at a public market in Tacurong city in Sultan Kudarat province at noon on Tuesday, wounding six people, and the deadlier one at 8 p.m. in Makilala town of nearby North Cotabato province.
At least six people were killed and 29 others were injured in the blast, said Makilala Mayor Onofre Respicio yesterday.
Respicio said early reports of 12 dead were due to double-counting of bodies. He said nine people were in serious condition and undergoing surgery late on Tuesday, the 52nd anniversary of Makilala’s founding.
Saved by Curious Woman
Senior Superintendent Samson Obatay of the Cotabato City police said the curiosity of a saleslady, which caused the bomb to explode prematurely, could have prevented deaths from yesterday’s explosion.
He said the unnamed saleslady saw a man leaving a bag at a sidewalk near the mall and she inspected the bag.
“She tried to look at what’s inside the bag and when she felt that something was suspicious about its contents, she threw it away,” he said. “The bag landed and expoloded in an area where there was nobody around.”
“The attackers must have intended to explode the device during rush hour, when a lot of people would be on the street and near the attack site, but the bomb exploded earlier,” he said.
Hours before the blast in Cotabato City, investigators defused an improvised explosive device a few meters away from where a bomb exploded Tuesday evening in Makilala town amid festivities for its founding anniversary.
Army Col. Ruperto Pabustan said the bomb that was discovered yesterday was made from two 81mm mortars attached to a mobile phone as a detonator and a nine-volt battery.
He said the cellular phone showed more than 20 missed calls, an indication that the suspects attempted to detonate the bomb.
“Luckily, it did not explode,” he said. “Had it exploded, hundreds more would have been killed since the area was densely populated at the time of the incident.”
Security forces in the southern region of Mindanao were placed on red alert earlier in the day following Tuesday’s bombings.
Director General Oscar Calderon, national police chief, said that based on intelligence reports, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants and the local Abu Sayyaf rebels were planning more attacks in Mindanao and other key cities.
“We are preparing for any eventuality,” he said. “We have placed all our forces on highest alert, including those in metropolitan Manila.”
Revenge
Intelligence officials said it’s either the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah or elements of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation (MILF) who were behind the spate of bombings.
“It has all the signatures of the three groups, especially the MILF, which had carried out similar bombings in civilian targets in the past,” one senior official said.
But the MILF has denied involvements in all three blasts. “We have nothing to do with the bombings. The MILF is currently negotiating peace with the Philippine government and we are sincere with the talks. There is a cease-fire agreement and the MILF is not part in any of these terrorist activities,” a rebel spokesman, Eid Kabalu, said.
Malacañang Palace in Manila also effectively absolved the MILF as an institution in the bombings, hinting that perhaps only some rogue MILF rebels with links to JI militants and Abu Sayyaf rebels were involved.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Arroyo has sought the help of the MILF in “the identification and interdiction of the bombers.”
Officials said the attacks might have been perpetrated to distract the military from its ongoing offensive against the JI and Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo island or to avenge the recent capture of the Indonesian wife of to JI militant.
Government troops last week arrested the wife of Dulmatin, one of two alleged suspects in the 2002 bombings that killed 202 people in the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
Istiada Oemar Sovie and her two boys aged 6 and 8 are now being held by the authorities in Manila.
Dulmatin and Patek, together with about 30 other Indonesian militants, reportedly fled to the southern Philippine island of Jolo, where they are now playing hide-and-seek with pursuing Philippine troops.
No Let-Up
Military officials also said if the bombings in central Mindanao were intended to relieve the pressure on Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah militants in Jolo, they are in for a disappointment.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said there will be no let-up in pursuit operations against the Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
“This may be in retaliation because we support the worldwide coalition against terrorism,” he said. “They also want to distract our operations in Jolo, but we would not ease the offensive.”
“We know that while we are closing in on them, we expect some of their members and sympathizers outside Jolo will launch actions to divert our attention,” he said.
Army Scout Rangers clashed with an undetermined number of Abu Sayyaf guerrillas near Jolo’s mountainous Patikul town in fierce fighting that killed the two soldiers and wounded eight others. An unknown number of militants were killed, Esperon said.
A US-backed offensive involving about 6,000 Philippine army troops and Marines, dubbed “Oplan Ultimatum,” was launched Aug. 1 by the military in a bid to crush the main Abu Sayyaf faction. (With input from Agencies)
