Terrorists bomb Philippine Catholic church

Suspected militants bombed a Roman Catholic cathedral compound and a building housing a government office yesterday in the southern Philippines, police said.

No was injured in the blasts, they said.

Police been placed on the highest level of security following the dawn explosions in Zamboanga City, regional police Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal said. Government troops and police had already tightened security in the town for a weeklong national sports festival and a medical conference, Caringal said.

Zamboanga, about 860km south of Manila, is home to US troops providing counterterrorism training to Filipino soldiers. The military says the region is home to more than 300 armed members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf terror group.

Caringal a mortar round, concealed in a box, exploded under a car in the parking lot of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, damaging two cars, a concrete wall and two steel gates.

A church caretaker saw three men fleeing the scene on a motorcycle shortly before the blast, Caringal said.

The caretaker said the men talked in a dialect spoken on Jolo, a mostly Muslim island where the Abu Sayyaf is active.

Caringal the men were seen fleeing toward downtown Zamboanga, where 15 minutes later another mortar round exploded outside a three-story building housing the Department of Foreign Affairs’ regional office, a bank and coffeeshop. That bomb, which was set off remotely using a cellphone, damaged the building’s wall and a steel door, he said.

Caringal police suspect the men were Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiyah militants, but an investigation was under way.

“The bombings were apparently not meant to kill but aimed to cause fear,” Caringal said by telephone.

“We condemn these acts of terrorism in the highest term,” Caringal said.

Archbishop Romulo Valles, a regional church official, called for prayers in response, and Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat appealed for calm.

“We should remain calm. Let us not panic or show fear because it will just give added victory to the perpetrators,” Lobregat said.

Zamboanga, a predominantly Christian city, has seen sporadic bomb attacks in past years, including one that killed a US Green Beret outside an army camp in 2002 and was blamed on Abu Sayyaf militants.

The US and Australian embassies separately warned their citizens early this month that “extremist elements” planned to kidnap Americans and other foreigners in Zamboanga City.

The Abu Sayyaf are on US and European terrorist lists for ransom kidnappings, beheadings and bomb attacks.