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.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS