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Saturday, August 13, 2005
Police present 3 suspected bombers
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Police on Friday presented three alleged members of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group implicated in the twin bombings that injured 26 people in the southern port city of Zamboanga.
The trio, Adzmar Abduraop, 33; Angon Asmari, 32; and Ibnoyatim Salangin, 31, were captured hours after a bomb exploded under a parked mini-van in Campaner Street during rush-hour in downtown Zamboanga City on Wednesday.
The second blast tore through the second floor of a three-storey building that houses a restaurant, motel, and several shops, just 30 meters away from the main police headquarters.
"The three men were positively identified by witnesses, who saw them in Campaner Street minutes before the blast," local police chief Henry Losanes said at a news conference.
The men were in handcuffs and yellow t-shirts marked "ZCPO Detainee" when presented to reporters and other city officials inside police headquarters. Security was tight outside the police building.
Officials said the trio were still being investigated. "The investigation is still going on. We would like to know how many or who their cohorts are," Losanes said.
The three were not allowed to speak, but police said they were natives of Basilan island, about 15 nautical miles south of here and a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group.
Police said a witness saw the trio ran inside a small hotel minutes after the first explosion. While a second witness claimed he saw one of the three men left a bag, believed to have contained the bomb, under the parked vehicle, and it exploded later.
Officials did not say what the motives for the attacks were, but security forces last week arrested alleged Abu Sayyaf bomb-maker Alex Alvarez, tagged by the military and police as behind the series of explosions in Zamboanga City since 2002.
Intelligence officials believed the latest bombings were in retaliation to Alvarez's arrest. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(August 13, 2005 issue)
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