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Thursday, January 31, 2008
Death toll in GenSan blast rises to 4; police suspect extortion
GENERAL SANTOS (Updated 11:15 a.m.) -- The death toll from a homemade bomb that ripped through a tuna canning factory in General Santos City rose to four Thursday with 27 injured, as police focused on a labor dispute or extortion attempt as a possible motive.
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The crude device attached to a parked tricycle outside the Philbest plant in General Santos City exploded late Wednesday as about 1,500 workers were changing shifts.
One person died of injuries overnight, bringing the death toll to four, said Senior Superintendent Robert Po, the city's police chief.
Among the dead was an 11-year-old boy who was selling fried bananas outside the factory, radio dzRH reported.
At least 27 others were hurt, most of them cut by flying glass and debris, said Dr. Bing Aquino of St. Elizabeth Hospital.
Police were investigating the possibility that the blast, caused by a device made from a mortar shell, was linked to a labor dispute or an extortion attempt, Po said.
A more powerful bomb could have caused more casualties, he added.
The powerful blast tore the canopy of the catwalk adjacent to the wall of the tuna company where workers were rushing out from work. Philbest Canning Corporation is owned by the RD Group, the city's biggest tuna producer and manufacturer.
There was no immediate statement from officials of the company.
General Santos City Mayor Pedro Acharon Jr. immediately condemned the attack.
"I express my highest degree of condemnation to this barbarous attack. The city will not sleep on it," he said after attending the induction of officers of the General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He said he already ordered the local police and the military-headed Joint Task Force Gensan (JTFG) to go after the perpetrators.
Wednesday night's explosion came almost a year after an improvised explosive device also exploded at a lotto outlet near the public market.
Six people were killed in the blast.
Al-Qaida-linked extremists were blamed for January 2007 bombings in General Santos City and two other southern towns that killed seven and wounded 44 people.
Extortion gangs also are active in the region.
General Santos City, a bustling tuna exporting center on the main southern island of Mindanao, is about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of Manila.(AP/ Edwin Espejo/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (January 31, 2008 issue)
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