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Sunday, August 05, 2007
US bomb experts join Koronadal bomb blast probe
DAVAO CITY -- US explosives experts are assisting in a probe into two bombs that ripped through a crowded bus terminal in Koronadal City that killed a passenger and injured 12 more while police released Saturday the sketch of a suspect.
Authorities were also quick to dispel reports that the twin bombing could be a "spillover" in the Basilan tension.
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Police said the bomb blasts that hit the Yellow Bus Line in Koronadal City were perpetrated by an extortionist group and not at all related to the tension in Basilan.
Two US military bomb experts inspected the scene of Friday's blasts at Koronadal City in South Cotabato province on Saturday, said South Cotabato Provincial Director Robert Kiunisala.
The US investigators - part of a contingent conducting joint training exercises with the Philippine military in nearby Shariff Kabunsuan province - are trying "to determine if the attack bore signatures of terror groups active in (the southern region of) Mindanao," Kiunisala said.
Kiunisala said the blasts may have been carried out by extortionists linked to Islamic militants and that it was the third attack targeting the same bus company since the beginning of July.
He said police suspect the Al Khobar gang - a loose group of renegade guerrillas from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is in peace talks with the government, as well as members linked to the Abu Sayyaf and al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group.
The gang called the company to demand money shortly before the blasts, he said.
A 31-year-old Protestant pastor, Willy Caritan, was killed instantly when the first bomb - left among baggage to be loaded on a bus - exploded at the bus terminal Friday, and 12 other people were wounded, Kiunisala said.
The second bomb, which went off inside an empty bus, injured no one.
Police suspect the attackers detonated the bombs using a cell phone.
The first bomb was an improvised explosive device containing nails, and that the second was an incendiary bomb with gasoline, Kiunisala said.
Armed Forces of the Philippines' Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) spokesperson Major Randolph Cabangbang said the explosive device used in Friday’s bombing are similar to that used by the Al Khobar group in previous bombings they publicly admitted to be their doing.
Cabangbang said the incident could not be related to the tension in Basilan since the Al Khobar group has no affiliation with the MILF.
Cabangbang, however, admitted that members of the Al Khobar are known MILF personalities.
He said though that the MILF, as an organization, has no hand in this latest bombing.
"The MILF as an organization will not do it. However, there are some high echelon leaders who uses the organization for personal motives," the EastMinCom spokesman said.
Nevertheless, Cabangbang said, the AFP is always ready for any eventualities especially against lawless elements who are out to take advantage of the tense situation in Basilan.
Police also released Saturday the composite sketch of a suspect in the twin bombings.
Witnesses of the twin bombings described the suspect as 5 feet and 3 inches tall and around 18 to 20 years old.
Witnesses account, police said described the suspect who looked nervous and pale before the blast. (AP/Ben Tesiorna of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (August 5, 2007 issue)
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