The Philippine military yesterday stepped up security in key urban centers in the troubled south after two separate bomb explosions injured four people, while in the north soldiers clashed with communist rebels, killing two.
Major General Agustin Dema-ala said the Abu Sayyaf rebel group and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) were the main suspects in the separate bomb attacks in the cities of Cotabato and Koronadal on Saturday.
"Based on previous experience, the Abu Sayyaf and the JI are the groups capable of launching such attacks," he said, adding that the bombings could have been a "diversionary tactic to ease the pressure" from unrelenting military offensives.
PHOTO: AFP
"We have beefed up our security," he added, noting that intelligence information indicated that the Abu Sayyaf and the JI were plotting to "launch a series of attacks" in key cities in the southern region of Mindanao.
Four hours apart
The first attack hit the compound of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in Cotabato City, where the homemade bomb explosion injured a 13-year-old girl, officials said.
Four hours later, an improvised bomb ripped through a public market in Koronadal City, injuring three people. The explosive device was planted in a tricycle parked at the entrance of the public market.
Lieutenant Colonel Franklin Del Prado, an army division spokesman, said troops would continue to hunt down Abu Sayyaf rebels and JI militants believed to be hiding in nearby towns and villages of Maguindanao Province despite the bomb attacks.
Del Prado said recent information indicated that Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadafi Janjalani, and senior leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Abu Solaiman were trapped in Maguindanao.
"We are not certain right now if there are foreigners with them," he said. "They are trapped in the border of Talayan and Guindulungan towns. Our operation will continue without let-up."
Janjalani, Hapilon and Solaiman are wanted by the US, which has offered up to US$5 million in cash rewards for their arrest or prosecution.
Communist rebels
Meanwhile, in the northern part of the country, army troops clashed with communist guerrillas early yesterday in a brief but fierce gunbattle that left two rebels dead and a soldier wounded, the military said.
An army reconnaissance team engaged about 15 New People's Army fighters near Santa Lucia town in northern Ilocos Sur Province, killing two rebels and seizing their assault rifles, according to a military report.
An army corporal was wounded in the clash about 290km north of Manila, the military said. The rest of the guerrillas withdrew into the nearby hinterlands and were being pursued, it added.
The rebels have suspended talks with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government on ending the 36-year-old Marxist insurgency. They have vowed to intensify attacks in an effort to help oust Arroyo, who is facing impeachment over vote-rigging allegations and charges that her family received illegal gambling payoffs.
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