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Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Blasts rock Makati, Davao, General Santos
A TRIO of bombs jolted the Manila financial district of Makati and two Mindanao cities Monday, killing at least seven people and wounding nearly 100 others, police said.
The bandit group Abu Sayyaf, which is on Washington's list of terror groups, claimed responsibility, calling it retribution for a major, ongoing military offensive against Islamic gunmen in Mindanao.
"These are despicable acts of terror, and we ask the people to brace themselves against these attacks on our freedom and security," presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
"We're not going to sleep tonight," added National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.
Philippine National Police Chief Edgar Aglipay ordered the 114,000-strong police force to tighten security in vital installations and commercial establishments nationwide following the bombings.
One of the bombings was on a bus along the busy Edsa highway just below a station for an elevated train and near the Intercontinental Hotel.
Police said three people were killed and at least 60 others injured as the bus exploded in flames and sent debris that hit two other buses.
The back of the bombed bus was destroyed in the 7:30 p.m. blast and all of the windows were blown out. The charred body of one passenger was still seated with a hand holding the seat railing.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited the site.
A blast outside the Gaisano Mall in southern General Santos City about an hour earlier could be heard two kilometers away, witnesses said. Police said at least three people were killed and at least 30 others injured.
Among those killed was Romeo Datol, owner of the tricycle where the bomb was placed by a still unidentified passenger.
Datol's body was badly mangled as a result of the explosion. His right foot was thrown several meters away.
As of 8:30 Monday night, more than 30 people were being treated for shrapnel wounds in various hospitals in General Santos.
Another bomb, believed to have been made from a mortar shell, killed Rolly Lacsinto, 12, and injured six people when it went off almost simultaneously at a food stall beside Gate 1 of a bus terminal in Davao City, also in Mindanao, home to a restive Muslim minority, terror groups and criminal gangs.
It took police more than two hours to retrieve the shattered boy's body from inside an eatery where the bomb was believed to have been placed.
Lacsinto, who is from Paquibato, is said to have gone downtown to search for his mother who left home a few days ago.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte called the bombing "the handiwork of terrorists."
Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (Satu) agents retrieved a box said to contain another bomb that failed to explode from the same place.
"You can attribute this to us," an Abu Sayyaf leader, Abu Solaiman, told radio station dzBB radio 20 minutes after the first two blasts in Davao and General Santos.
"There is one more to come," he said before the Manila bombing.
In a second call, Solaiman said the bombings were a Valentine's Day "gift" to President Arroyo.
The bombings occurred just as people were rushing to celebrate Valentine's Day.
"Our latest operations--planned and executed with precision by the gallant warriors of Islam--is our continuing response to the Philippine government's atrocities committed against Muslims everywhere," Solaiman said.
"We will find more ways and means to inflict more harm to your people's lives and properties, and we will not stop unless we get justice for the countless Muslims lives and properties that you people have destroyed."
Officials had expressed concerns over the prospect of a terrorist attack as the military carries out an all-out assault on Jolo island against a group of gunmen who recently attacked troops in the region, sparking clashes that have killed at least 60.
The gunmen are believed to include followers of jailed Muslim leader Nur Misuari, backed by Abu Sayyaf members.
"We warned our units about these threats as early as last week," Aglipay said. "We have already advised our policemen in the field to see to it that all necessary security measures be taken to avoid people being killed or injured."
A bombing killed at least 14 people and wounded 70 others December 12 in General Santos, a bustling, predominantly Christian city of 500,000 people about 1,000 kilometers south of Manila.
Five people, all reportedly with links to the Abu Sayyaf, were arrested in connection with the attack.
The Abu Sayyaf also claimed responsibility for a bomb that exploded on a ferry in Manila Bay last year that killed more than 100 people.
Near-simultaneous bombings, also blamed on Muslim extremists and the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, killed 22 people in Manila on Dec. 30, 2000. Most of the casualties were on a packed commuter train. (AP/Sun.Star General Santos/Sun.Star Davao)
(February 15, 2005 issue)
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