Update: MILF involvement eyed in Zamboanga City bombing (6:45 p.m.)
Police and military officials are eyeing the possible involvement of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) into Thursday’s bombing that killed two people and injured 21 others in Zamboanga city.
The bomb that exploded just outside the gate one of the Col. Edwin Andrews Air Base (EAAB) also destroyed the offices of the United States Assistance for International Development-funded Alliance of Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy, Air Materiel Wing Savings and Loan Association, Incorporated and the first congressional district office.
Director Jaime Caringal, chief of the Zamboanga Peninsula Police Office (ZPPO), disclosed that the bomb carries the signature of the MILF’s Special Operations Team (SOT).
Caringal disclosed the type of bomb that was used in Thursday morning’s bombing have similarity to the explosives that were used by the MILF in previous bombings here in Mindanao.
Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) information officer Maj. Eugenio Batara, Jr. disclosed the bomb was placed beside the AMWSLAI building, which is in front of the EAAB gate one.
Batara disclosed that one of those injured was an Air Force personnel detailed as sentry at the gate one.
“He (Air force personnel) was thrown several meters away due to the impact,” a man, who don’t want to be identified disclosed.
The bombing Thursday was the second that occurred this year in Zamboanga city.
Sr. Supt. Lurimer Detran, officer-in-charge of the Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO), disclosed that they placed under investigation a vehicle owner that was seen speeding away from the blast site after the bomb went off. The vehicle was intercepted in Barangay Ayala, west of Zamboanga City.
He also disclosed that they have a witness who has seen a man carrying a blue bag, where investigators believed the bomb was concealed.
Detran said they have already coordinated with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to produce the cartographic sketch of the man seen carrying the bag based on the description of the witness. (Bong Garcia/Sunnex)
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