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Friday, October 19, 2007
Police eye terror angle in Makati mall blast; death toll rises to 8
MANILA (4th update; 4:48 p.m.) – A police investigation into the powerful blast that rocked a crowded shopping mall in Manila's financial district Friday is pursuing the possibility that the explosion was deliberate, not accidental.
At least eight people died and 70 more were wounded when a blast hit a ground floor restaurant at the Glorietta 2 mall in Makati, the country’s premier financial district, at about 1:30 p.m. Friday.
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Reports filtering in from various hospitals near the area said the death toll could rise further as the condition of those earlier reported as wounded later turned critical.
Police placed the entire Metro Manila on red alert to cope with the emergency but Metropolitan Manila police chief Geary Barias said the situation is currently under control.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said in a statement she was deeply saddened by the incident and she has ordered the police to “get to the bottom of things.” She ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development to immediately provide assistance to the victims.
Initial reports had suggested a cooking gas tank in a mall restaurant was to blame, but Barias later said the blast occurred at the entrance of the mall and that its cause remained under investigation.
"It's too early to say if it's terrorism related," Barias said. But the investigation is looking into the possibility that the explosion was deliberate.
Police Chief Director General Avelino Razon said, that from the post-blast investigation, probers are ruling out a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank explosion.
In the past, Al-Qaida-linked militants who have waged a years-long bloody bombing campaign in the southern Philippines have targeted Manila.
The explosion caused extensive damage throughout the Glorietta 2 shopping complex in Makati, toppling roofs across the floors and destroying several walls and sending debris crashing on cars outside.
Witnesses told radio stations they saw bloodied people being helped out of the restaurant and carried away in ambulances. An Associated Press photographer saw two bodies covered with blankets.
"One man who was in front of me was already dead. There was a child but we don't know where the child is now," said witness Dennis Inigo, who was shopping at the time of the blast. "The man's wife was with me a while ago, and her leg was shattered."
He said people inside the mall scampered toward the exits when the blast shook.
"Many people were falling on top of each other," he said. "It was loud, and then it became dusty.
"One of my companions is dead, he is under the stairs. We all work for a call center," he said.
In 2004, Abu Sayyaf militants, notorious for kidnappings and beheadings, blew up a passenger ferry in Manila Bay, killing 116 people in the country's worst terrorist attack. (JMR/AP/Sunnex)
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(October 19, 2007 issue)
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