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Friday, December 19, 2008
2 killed, 48 hurt in twin blasts in Iligan City
CAGAYAN DE ORO -- Twin blasts in Iligan City killed two workers and wounded 48 more Thursday, a day before a scheduled visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the southern Philippine city, authorities said.
Lanao del Norte Police spokesman Dimacuta Sanggacala said the first blast occurred at Unicity Mall at 1:35 p.m. Thursday.
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Fifteen minutes later, a second blast went off, targeting nearby Gerry's Shoppers Plaza and killing two of its workers.
The two stores, both located along Aguinaldo Street, were crammed with Christmas shoppers when two crude bombs packed with nails and placed in their respective baggage counters, exploded minutes apart.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts in Iligan, a predominantly Christian city, but officials have blamed Muslim rebels for similar attacks in the volatile region in the past few months.
Two workers were killed and 48 people were wounded, including two in critical condition, hospital officials told The Associated Press.
Roger Alforque said his wife was handing some belongings to a baggage counter attendant of the Unicity department store in Iligan's busy downtown area when an explosion rocked the counter.
The blast sounded like a powerful firecracker "but it caused a lot of damage," he told the AP by telephone from an Iligan hospital. The blast knocked his wife unconscious and wounded him and his 10-year-old daughter.
President Arroyo, who is scheduled to visit Iligan City on Friday to inaugurate the Suka Pinakurat processing plant of Green Gold Gourmet Food Products at Barangay Pugaan at 10 a.m., condemned the bombings.
"The government will not stop hunting these terrorists until they are put behind bars," Arroyo spokesman Anthony Golez said.
"We condole with the families of those killed in this tragedy and different government agencies will support those who have survived," Golez added.
Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz said security cameras at one store captured images of a man and woman suspected of depositing the bag that contained the bomb.
He said the City Government in the past two weeks received threats warning of bombings in Iligan's shopping malls and other public areas.
Ranes said police have been on alert for months in Iligan, about 485 miles (780 kilometers) southeast of Manila, due to threats from Muslim rebels.
Sporadic clashes between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an 11,000-strong rebel group fighting for self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's south, erupted in August after the country's top court scrapped a preliminary accord on an expanded Muslim autonomous region.
More than 100 civilians and dozens of combatants have been killed.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu condemned the attacks and said the government should investigate the blasts before blaming Muslim guerrillas.
"We condemn this to the highest degree," he said. "We won't pursue our cause by killing innocent people."
Officials of Iligan, an industrial hub of more than 300,000 people, have strongly objected to a plan to annex part of their city to the Muslim region.
The government has subsequently put peace talks on hold, although it recently indicated it was ready to restart negotiations. (Bong Garcia/AP/JRDB/JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (December 19, 2008 issue)
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