allesennogwat
05-09-2007, 03:12 PM
AFP-Wednesday May 9
The Philippines tightened security and suspended all leave for soldiers Wednesday after eight people were killed in a bombing blamed on Muslim extremists.
A homemade bomb ripped through a billiards hall Tuesday in Tacurong city, killing three on the spot and five more overnight in an attack officials said bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda-linked militants from Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
More than two dozen people were being treated for injuries after the blast on the southern island of Mindanao, which has been wracked by more than three decades of Muslim insurgency.
The attack came a week before national mid-term elections, with security forces already stretched thin to cope with a rash of violence in the run-up to the May 14 vote.
President Gloria Arroyo's chief aide, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita warned that the blast could be tied to the coming polls and said both the military and police were investigating.
"We cannot let this thing go on without a very thorough investigation because it can very well be that it could be related to the coming elections," he said.
Arroyo had ordered tight security to avoid a repeat of the incident, especially in areas where "terrorists and other bad elements," are known to be active, Ermita said.
"We see the signature of the JI in this attack," provincial police chief Teng Tocao told local radio.
Army ordnance experts said the explosive device may have been fashioned from a live rocket-propelled grenade shell attached to a battery and set off by a mechanical clock and blasting cap.
Extra police were deployed to patrol the streets of Tacurong while military checkpoints were set up around the city.
Regional military chief Major General Reymundo Ferrer also pointed a finger at JI, saying he believed the attack was designed to ease pressure on militants holed up on nearby Jolo island.
Several JI militants led by wanted Indonesian fugitives Umar Patek and Dulmatin are holed up with Abu Sayyaf militants on Jolo island.
The US government has offered a 10-million-dollar reward for the capture of Dulmatin and one million dollars for Patek, who are accused of helping to plan the October 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 people.
"The situation is slowly normalising but we have continued to beef up security," Ferrer said. "At the same time intelligence units have intensified their operations."
Armed forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon said all leave for officers and their men would be suspended as they go on heightened alert around the country.
He said the alert would remain in force until after the election.
"We can make that assumption that some groups would want to carry out actions during the elections when security forces would be stretched," Esperon told reporters.
More checkpoints were to be set up on Mindanao highways, and troops provided extra security at sensitive government installations, officials said.
Local militants with possible links to JI have been rounded up in the past in Mindanao, regional army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said, suggesting the group may have set up local cells that could be activated through coded mobile phone calls to carry out attacks.
Ando said that prior to Tuesday's blast, intelligence reports had indicated an imminent attack by JI or the Abu Sayyaf, a small group of self-styled Islamic militants blamed for the worst terror attacks here in recent years.
The same market in Tacurong was bombed in October last year, wounding four people, and late last month police foiled another bomb attack when they discovered and safely detonated a homemade bomb at a nearby mall.
Also in October last year, a bomb exploded near the municipal hall of Makilala in the adjacent province of North Cotabato, killing six.
All the attacks were blamed either on the JI or the Abu Sayyaf, but no one was arrested.
Late last month, the US embassy in Manila issued a travel warning for central Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippines.
The Philippines tightened security and suspended all leave for soldiers Wednesday after eight people were killed in a bombing blamed on Muslim extremists.
A homemade bomb ripped through a billiards hall Tuesday in Tacurong city, killing three on the spot and five more overnight in an attack officials said bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda-linked militants from Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
More than two dozen people were being treated for injuries after the blast on the southern island of Mindanao, which has been wracked by more than three decades of Muslim insurgency.
The attack came a week before national mid-term elections, with security forces already stretched thin to cope with a rash of violence in the run-up to the May 14 vote.
President Gloria Arroyo's chief aide, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita warned that the blast could be tied to the coming polls and said both the military and police were investigating.
"We cannot let this thing go on without a very thorough investigation because it can very well be that it could be related to the coming elections," he said.
Arroyo had ordered tight security to avoid a repeat of the incident, especially in areas where "terrorists and other bad elements," are known to be active, Ermita said.
"We see the signature of the JI in this attack," provincial police chief Teng Tocao told local radio.
Army ordnance experts said the explosive device may have been fashioned from a live rocket-propelled grenade shell attached to a battery and set off by a mechanical clock and blasting cap.
Extra police were deployed to patrol the streets of Tacurong while military checkpoints were set up around the city.
Regional military chief Major General Reymundo Ferrer also pointed a finger at JI, saying he believed the attack was designed to ease pressure on militants holed up on nearby Jolo island.
Several JI militants led by wanted Indonesian fugitives Umar Patek and Dulmatin are holed up with Abu Sayyaf militants on Jolo island.
The US government has offered a 10-million-dollar reward for the capture of Dulmatin and one million dollars for Patek, who are accused of helping to plan the October 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 people.
"The situation is slowly normalising but we have continued to beef up security," Ferrer said. "At the same time intelligence units have intensified their operations."
Armed forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon said all leave for officers and their men would be suspended as they go on heightened alert around the country.
He said the alert would remain in force until after the election.
"We can make that assumption that some groups would want to carry out actions during the elections when security forces would be stretched," Esperon told reporters.
More checkpoints were to be set up on Mindanao highways, and troops provided extra security at sensitive government installations, officials said.
Local militants with possible links to JI have been rounded up in the past in Mindanao, regional army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said, suggesting the group may have set up local cells that could be activated through coded mobile phone calls to carry out attacks.
Ando said that prior to Tuesday's blast, intelligence reports had indicated an imminent attack by JI or the Abu Sayyaf, a small group of self-styled Islamic militants blamed for the worst terror attacks here in recent years.
The same market in Tacurong was bombed in October last year, wounding four people, and late last month police foiled another bomb attack when they discovered and safely detonated a homemade bomb at a nearby mall.
Also in October last year, a bomb exploded near the municipal hall of Makilala in the adjacent province of North Cotabato, killing six.
All the attacks were blamed either on the JI or the Abu Sayyaf, but no one was arrested.
Late last month, the US embassy in Manila issued a travel warning for central Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippines.