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ZAMBOANGA CITY—Police and military officials are eyeing
the possible involvement of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) in Thursday’s bombing that killed two
people and injured 21 others.
The bomb
exploded beside the Air Materiel Wing Savings and Loan
Association Inc. office located in a building across
Gate 1 of the Col. Edwin Andrews Air Base.
The
blast also destroyed the offices of the United States
Assistance for International Development-funded
Alliance
of Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy and the
congressional district office of Laban Rep. Maria
Isabelle Climaco of Zamboanga City, as well as three
vehicles.
Director
Jaime Caringal,
Western Mindanao police commander, said the bomb had the signature of the
MILF’s Special Operations Team.
Caringal
disclosed that the type of bomb that was used in
Thursday’s bombing was similar to the explosives used by
the MILF in previous bombings.
Supt.
Jose Bayani Gucela, Western Mindanao police spokesman,
said the Explosives and Ordnance Demolition personnel
that investigated the explosion site found traces of
trinitrotoluene.
Thursday’s bombing was the second in this city this
year.
The
first was on April 13, when two bombs almost
simultaneously exploded at the compound of the
Immaculate
Concepcion
Cathedral
Church
on La Purisima Street downtown and in front of a
building that houses the consular office of the
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Veterans Avenue,
one kilometer east of the church.
Police
investigators tagged the Abu Sayyaf in the April 13
bombing that injured no one. However, two vehicles were
damaged and the glass panels of the church were
shattered.
MILF
leaders, however, denied that the rebel group was behind
the bombing, as they denounced investigators for linking
the separatist group to the incident.
The MILF
information committee deputy chairman, Khaled Musa,
asked Caringal to retract his statement linking the
separatist group to the latest bombing incident.
“This is
a serious allegation against the MILF. This is an
irresponsible statement. The MILF is a partner of the
government in the search for genuine peace in Mindanao,”
Musa said in a statement.
Sheikh
Muhammad Muntasir, MILF’s head of the dawah (Islamic
call) department, condemned the bombing on behalf of the
MILF central committee describing the incident as “the
handiwork of agents of darkness.”
“Whoever
did this evil act deserves the collective condemnation
of everybody. There is no room for people like them in a
civilized society,” Muntasir said.
Defense
Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said the government will
decisively act against the perpetrators of Thursday’s
bombing.
Teodoro
said the bombing is not justifiable and is not in any
norms of ideology, adding that the victims include
children.
Two
children below 10 were among the injured.
Teodoro
assured the full support of the military to the local
police in the conduct of the investigation and arrest of
the perpetrators.
Senior
Supt. Lorimer Detran, officer in charge of the local
police, revealed that the owner of a vehicle that was
seen speeding away from the scene of the incident just
after the blast is now being investigated.
The
vehicle was intercepted in barangay Ayala, west of this
city.
Detran
added that a witness who said a man carry a blue bag,
where the bomb was concealed, has given police artists a
description of the bomber.
The
police learned that a few minutes before the explosion,
the blue bag was observed to have been left unattended
near the crowd of people waiting for a free ride in an
Air Force C-130 “Hercules” transport plane that was
scheduled to fly to Manila.
On
Saturday, Detran released the artist’s sketch of the
suspect, who is an alleged member of the MILF.
The
alleged bomber is said to be 5’5” tall and of medium
build. |
