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Arroyo urges terror bill's passage

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called on Congress yesterday to pass an anti-terrorism law, a day after a mobile phone-detonated bomb killed five people and wounded 17 in a shop in the southern Philippines.

Security officials on the southwestern island of Jolo were quick to blame the al-Qaeda-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf for the attack, saying the bombing was in retaliation for shop managers defying the rebels' attempts to extort money.

"Once more, and with a deep sense of urgency, I ask Congress to pass the anti-terrorism law that will enable our nation to constrict, contain and control this threat more effectively," Arroyo said in a statement.

"Terror never sleeps and we need to consistently carry out our comprehensive action plan to rid our country and the world of this grave threat," she said.

Fight insurgents

The government has said the absence of an anti-terror law has inhibited its fight against Muslim and communist insurgencies that have killed at least 160,000 people since the late 1960s.

The US, the Philippines' close security partner in the Asia-Pacific region, has also criticized Manila for not having tough laws to help thwart guerrilla attacks.

Last October, Arroyo's allies in the lower house of Congress, responding to deadly bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, promised to hasten the implementation of an anti-terror law by the end of last year.

Brigadier-General Francisco Callelero, an army spokesman in the southern Philippines, said the military was investigating reports that Monday's bombing was part of an extortion attempt by Islamic rebels with ties to Indonesian militants.

An intelligence official said the store managers received a telephone call on Monday from a man, who gave his name as Abu Abdulgaye, claiming to be a member of Abu Sayyaf and who said he was following up the demand for money.

Cellphone bomb

But the managers ignored the call. Minutes after the shop re-opened after lunch, an ammonium nitrate bomb triggered by a mobile phone ripped through the two-story building.

Jolo police chief Senior Superintendent Ahirum Ajirim said a man held for questioning shortly after the blast turned out to be an off-duty Marine buying goods.

He was initially treated as a suspect but later freed.

Arroyo ordered police and the military to "leave no stones unturned in the hunt" for the attackers. She also called on the public to remain calm.

"I condemn in the strongest terms this most recent attack in Sulu," Arroyo said in a statement, referring to the group of islands that include Jolo.

She said that "firm security measures are in place to contain the threat" and prevent similar attacks.

Ajirim said the bomb was made from ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer readily available in the south but when mixed with other chemicals can be used as an explosive.

The bomb was also rigged to a remote control device, and was similar to those previously used by the Abu Sayyaf.

Ajirim said ordnance experts from Manila were to arrive in Jolo later yesterday to help in the investigation as a manhunt was launched for the suspects.
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