Friday, December 29, 2006
Police eye al-Qaida-linked rebels in mall blast (4:45 p.m.)
MANILA - Al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels may have planted a bomb that injured three people in a shopping mall in the southern Philippines as part of an extortion attempt, a police official said Friday.
A soda can packed with black powder and attached to a wrist watch exploded at a baggage counter in Kim San Plaza in Tacurong city in Sultan Kudarat province on Thursday, slightly injuring two shoppers and an employee, police said.
Investigators suspected Abu Sayyaf militants after being told by the mall's management that it received a letter purportedly signed by Abu Sulaiman, one of the group's leaders, demanding P50,000 (US$1,020), said police Chief Superintendent German Doria.
Extortion gangs may have also used the name of Sulaiman, who has gained notoriety for deadly bomb attacks, to scare the management into giving in to their demands, he said.
The mall refused to give in to the extortion demand, which was made two weeks ago, despite the threat of an unspecified attack, Doria said.
Another shopping mall in Tacurong, 950 kilometers (590 miles) southeast of Manila, received a similar extortion letter a few weeks earlier and immediately reported it to police who provided extra security, he said. That mall also did not pay the demand.
Doria said the suspected bomber, a woman, apparently bought the soda, firecracker powder, batteries and wires in the mall and assembled the bomb in a restroom, where she was seen by a janitor tinkering with an object. The woman left a bag at the baggage counter, where the blast occurred minutes later, he said.
"The attacker definitely has some training in bomb-making," Doria told The Associated Press. "She knew security was tight at the gates but the mall had everything she needed to assemble a small explosive."
Doria said he ordered security to be tightened in all malls and public areas in the province to thwart any bomb plots by al-Qaida-linked militants and other armed groups.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small but violent group that has declared its desire to establish a separate Islamic enclave in the south, home to minority Muslim Filipinos. The government, however, has dismissed the rebels as bandits surviving off ransom kidnappings and extortion.
Authorities said Wednesday they were testing DNA samples to determine if remains found buried in the jungles of southern Jolo island come from Khaddafy Janjalani, the Abu Sayyaf chieftain. (AP) |
