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Monday, April 14, 2008
Cathedral bombed in Zamboanga City
By Bong Garcia
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants bombed a Roman Catholic cathedral compound and a building housing a government office Sunday, police said. No one was injured in the blasts.
The explosion occurred more than a week after the US and Australian embassies issued advisories against traveling to Zamboanga due to threats on foreigners.
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Zamboanga Peninsula Police Director Jaime Caringal has placed the police on the highest level of security following the dawn explosions in Zamboanga City.
Government troops and police had already tightened security in the town for a weeklong national sports festival and a medical conference, he said.
Caringal said a mortar round, concealed in a box, exploded under a car in the parking lot of the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral, damaging two cars, a concrete wall and two steel gates.
The other bomb was left at the roadside fronting the passport office building of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Maybank in Veterans Avenue. It was placed 1.5 kilometers away from the cathedral.
Based on reports, there was a five-minute interval between explosions.
According to Task Force Zamboanga (TFZ) chief Colonel Darwin Guerra, the bombs were aimed to frighten and cause panic.
Suspects
Based on the initial findings of investigators from the Explosive and Ordnance Division (EOD), both explosives were fashioned out of a 60-milimeter mortar shells and had a triggering device.
Superintendent Jonathan Perez, officer-in-charge of the Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO), said they have witnesses who could help them identify the persons who did the bombings.
"We are coming up with the artist sketch of (those) behind these incidents," Perez disclosed without revealing the actual number of the bombers.
A church caretaker saw three men fleeing the scene on a motorcycle shortly before the blast, Caringal said. The caretaker said the men talked in a dialect spoken on Jolo, a mostly Muslim island where the Abu Sayyaf is active.
Caringal said police suspect the men were Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiyah militants, but an investigation was under way.
Archbishop Romulo Valles, a regional church official, called for prayers, and Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat appealed for calm.
"We should remain calm. Let us not panic or show fear because it will just give added victory to the perpetrators," Lobregat said at a news conference.
Security has been tight in and around the city since the national Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) meet is being held here.
The athletic events are held at the Joaquin F. Enriquez Jr. Memorial Sports Complex and participated in by private schools across the country's 16 regions. The meet reeled off on April 8 and will end on April 14.
Zamboanga is home to US troops providing counterterrorism training to Filipino soldiers. The military says the region is home to more than 300-armed members of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf terror group.
The US and Australian embassies separately warned their citizens early this month that "extremist elements" planned to kidnap Americans and other foreigners in Zamboanga city.
The US travel advisory said it had received information that extremist elements may be planning to kidnap Americans or other foreigners.
The target areas for kidnapping are hotels or other public places within the city, said the same advisory.
Both embassies advised their nationals to leave Zamboanga at the time the travel advisories were issued. (With AP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (April 14, 2008 issue)
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