|
Monday, March 03, 2008
6 people injured in Jolo bomb attack
By Bong Garcia
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A top police official on Sunday said six people were injured in a bomb attack at a bar near a military base in the island province of Sulu where government troops are pursuing the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf bandits.
Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm), said the incident occurred at 9:30 p.m. Saturday inside a bar in front of Camp General Teodulfo Bautista where the military's Joint Task Force Comet was housed.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
No identities of the victims were available except that two are Filipino Army intelligence agents and four are female workers at the karaoke bar. US troops were conducting counter-terrorism training in the area, said Army spokesman Major Roel Ebreo.
The Americans were restricted to the camp at night for their security and none of them was hurt in the attack near Busbus village, Ebreo said.
Goltiao said although no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, the type of explosive used carries the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group's signature.
It is an improvised explosive device (IED) consisting of a mortar shell with a primer that is usually used in the terrorist acts by the Abu Sayyaf group, he said.
"That's the finding of the marines EODT (Explosive Ordinance and Demolition Team)," Goltiao said.
Those wounded in the blast were taken to the camp and treated by US and Filipino military medical personnel, Ebreo said.
The attack Saturday night was the second that took place in front of Camp Bautista, the military troops' headquarters in Jolo, Sulu.
The first was on February 18, 2006 when the Abu Sayyaf bombed a bar in front Camp Bautista that killed one person and wounded 28 others.
A month later, also in 2006, the Abu Sayyaf also bombed a cooperative store in downtown Jolo killing nine people and injuring more than 20 others.
Military troops had been pursuing the remaining leaders and followers of the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu and in nearby Basilan and Tawi-Tawi provinces.
Operations continue for the rescue of Jolo rice trader Maria Rosalie Lao and teacher Omar Taup in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, respectively.
Lao, 58, was seized by five Abu Sayyaf bandits around 4:45 p.m. of January 28 near her residence in Kakuyagan village, Jolo, Sulu.
The bandits seized Taup in the evening of January 15 from the Notre Dame High School campus in Tabawan Island, Tawi-Tawi after killing Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) priest Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda. (With AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (March 3, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
