ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—(UPDATE 5) A man was killed while several others were wounded, including Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan, when an explosion rocked the arrivals area of an international airport here Thursday evening, authorities said.
An improvised explosive device (EID) caused the 6:15 p.m. blast at the Zamboanga International Airport, regional police commander Chief Superintendent Edwin Corvera said.
"We are still investigating if one of the casualties is the one carrying the IED," he said in a statement.
The explosion took place on the eve of US Ambassador Harry Thomas’ visit to this city. Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa was also set to visit Zamboanga City Friday.
Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat put the toll at one dead and at least 12 injured, one of them seriously.
"Initial investigation suggests the one who carried the bomb was killed in the explosion," he said in a ABS-CBN television interview.
Lobregat said Tan was "Okay."
"I saw and I was able to speak to him. He just suffered minor injuries," Lobregat told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.
"We do not want to speculate at this time who the bombers are."
Lobregat said the blast occurred just after a plane from Manila had landed and as passengers were leaving the terminal.
Tan confirmed in a live television interview that he only sustained minor injuries.
The governor recounted that prior to the explosion, he saw a man standing near the arrivals area of the airport at 6:15 p.m.
Tan told GMA 7 “24 Oras” that the blast occurred less than a meter away from him.
“Nakita ko bumagsak na lang ‘yong tao at natanggal ‘yong ulo (Then I saw the man fell to the ground and his head was severed,” he said.
The suspected bomber, he said, was not among the passengers but was apparently waiting at the arrivals area of the airport, some 10 to 15 meters from the gate.
The American envoy was scheduled to visit some US-funded projects in the city, said Lieutenant General Dolorfino, the chief of the Western Mindanao Command.
“I don’t know if the Embassy will push though with the visit,” Dolorfino told the Inquirer.
Thomas, along with Gloria Steele, the new director of the United States Agency for International Development, were scheduled to visit Halfway House, which is jointly run by the Visayan Forum Foundation and the Philippine Ports Authority.
The airport is near the headquarters of US troops helping the Philippine military in its anti-terror drive in Mindanao, one of the strongholds of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, a small group of Islamic militants on the US government's list of terrorist organisations.
The US military has had about 500 soldiers stationed in Mindanao since early 2002 to train local troops in how to combat the extremist group. However the US soldiers are not allowed to have a combat role.
The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks, including a ferry bombing that killed over 100 people in Manila Bay in 2004.
It has also conducted a series of kidnappings of both locals and foreigners in Mindanao.
In one of their highest-profile kidnappings, the group seized three American and 17 local tourists from a beach resort on Palawan island southwest of Manila in 2001.
They beheaded one of the Americans, and another was killed during a rescue attempt a year after the kidnapping. The third American was freed in the rescue effort.
Zamboanga is also one of the main cities on Mindanao island where a Muslim separatist insurgency has left more than 150,000 people dead since 1978. With reports from Agence France-Presse and Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment