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.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS