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Sunday, February 23, 2003
Police probe on link of 'Iranians' to car blasts
By Lizanilla J. Amarga
POLICE on Friday started investigations on two "Iranian-looking" nationals who have been spotted at Cotabato airport in Barangay Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao before the car-bombing incident last Thursday.
Witnesses said they saw two foreigners who had "Iranian" features eating at Pampagueña Restaurant located across the street from the airport.
The operator of the restaurant also confirmed the same statements in an interview with ABS-CBN. He described how the two foreigners were among the customers just minutes before the van parked outside his restaurant exploded.
He said the blast triggered the fire that razed down his restaurant and other establishments outside the airport and damaged the other nearby establishments and the Cotabato airport terminal's windows and glass facades badly.
Colonel Tifonio Salazar said the bomb killed at least one person and injured six others.
But there was no disclosure as to whether the Iranian-looking foreigners were still being among the clients inside the restaurant at the very moment of explosion.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesperson Eid Kabalu strongly denied the accusations that it was some of their members who did the ghastly deed.
"If we are not under attack of the military we could even help them and the police look for these so called Iranian-looking suspects they are now looking for," he said.
Confidential
Kabalu said the possibility of such foreign terrorists lurking around to "take advantage of the situation" on their conflict with the military is huge.
"This is so para kami ang mapagbintangan sa lahat (we will be blamed for everything) and the military and the people will have more cause to want us eliminated," he told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in an interview lastnight.
As of presstime on Friday no group claimed responsibility for the blast while their were reports ruling out the possibility of suicide bombers.
Kabalu said there were also two fresh MILF attacks in Bacolod, Lanao del Norte yesterday.
He said MILF forces attacked army detachments at Mati and Pagyawan towns all of Bacolod, Lanao del Norte around 2:00 a.m. Friday.
"We don't have the number of casualties yet but if there were any in the side of the military I am sure they will be keeping it confidential," he said.
Kabalu said they also attacked Kabacan, Cotabato last Thursday night at around 10:00 in the evening.
Also he said there wre fresh fights at Barangay Minabay, Budon of Maguindanao 10:00 a.m. yesterday were there were five dead on the side of the military while there was one MILF wounded after the clash.
Highest form of terrorism
Meantime, Malacañang warned the MILF that it would declare the group a terrorist organization" if it did not stop its violent attacks in Mindanao.
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Eduardo Ermita issued the warning following bombings and killings in Mindanao, which authorities blamed on the MILF.
Ermita cited the massacre in Zamboanga del Norte on Wednesday and a bomb explosion at Awang Airport in Cotabato on Thursday.
Also how 14 people were killed when suspected MILF guerrillas raided Sitio Tubod in Barangay Poblacion in Calauit, North Cotabato.
Ermita said the MILF attacks had threatened the security of noncombatants, which could prompt the government to tag the Moro group as a terrorist organization.
In an interview lastnight, Kabalu retaliated by saying, "If the government so decides to declare us a terrorist organization then we will also declare them as a terrorist organization or government."
He said they this particularly as the government has already committed the "highest form of terrorism" which is using their troops to displace tens of thousands of residents and murdering rebels who have now decided to sit down and talk peace.
"Yes, we will declare them as terrorists as who gave them the right to go about labeling us or organizations as terrorists," the rebel said.
Out of anger
Kabalu said their objectives have always been clear and their "struggles have legitimate foundations".
President Gloria Arroyo earlier asked the United States to remove the MILF from the list of foreign terrorist organizations because of the peace talks.
Both the government still hopes to pursue peace negotiations with the MILF through the help of the Malaysian government despite the recent attacks.
Meantime suspected Muslim separatist guerrillas blew up a power pylon in the southern Philippines on Friday, plunging an entire town into darkness, officials said.
Another bomb, planted at the base of a second pylon, was spotted before it could go off. Explosives experts removed the device and set it off safely, the officials said.
The fallen transmission tower in North Cotabato province disrupted power supply to Carmen town. It was the seventh pylon toppled by suspected Muslim rebels this month.
Military spokesman Major Julieto Ando blamed the MILF for the blast, saying "there is no other organization which does this kind of thing. It was done out of anger because we captured their headquarters in Buliok."
Suspended
He was referring to the military's overrunning of an MILF enclave in the so-called Buliok complex in the south. Almost 200 people, mostly MILF fighters, were killed in the assault last week.
The MILF has also been blamed for a series of other attacks including two bombings which claimed two lives on Thursday and the massacre of 14 Christian villagers on Wednesday, all in the island of Mindanao.
MILF spokesmen have denied the group was behind the bombings.
The 12,500-member MILF has been waging a 25-year campaign for a Muslim state in Mindanao, the southern third of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippine islands.
On the other hand the possibility of foreign involvement in the carb bomb airport attack developed after the operator of Pampague¤a Restaurant, which was located across the street from the airport, reported to the police that the two foreigners were among the customers shortly before the vehicle parked outside his restaurant exploded.
As of presstime all flights of the Philippine Airlines and Sea Air to and from Cotabato City remain suspended for safety and security reasons. with AFP and ABS-CBN
(February 22, 2003 issue)
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