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COTABATO
CITY—Police
said the twin bomb attacks in Koronadal City on Friday
where a preacher was killed and 12 others were injured
bore the signature of the Abu Sayyaf.
Supt.
Robert Kiunisala, South Cotabato police commander, said
the latest wave of bus bombings inside and outside the
terminal of Yellow Bus Lines (YBL) was meant to divert
the attention of soldiers hunting Abu Sayyaf bandits who
allegedly beheaded 10 Marines who were killed in an
ambush staged by Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters
in Basilan on July 10.
Kiunisala said police bomb experts found residue of
trinitrotoluene (TNT) at the blast sites. The first
blast took place at the arrival area of the YBL station
at about
5:30 p.m.
A
protestant pastor, Willy Caritan of Panabo, Davao City,
was killed in the blast. His body was identified by his
wife, Cherry.
Later,
another improvised bomb exploded inside a parked YBL
air-conditioned bus but none was hurt.
“Investigators discovered that the bombers used TNT
bombs with nails. This is similar to the bombs used in
previous attacks by the Abu Sayyaf,” Kiunisala added. He
said the ASG need money to recruit and to maintain its
present members.
Kiunisala also reported that the Al-khobar, the group
demanding protection money from the owners of YBL, has
direct links with the Abu Sayyaf.
The
provincial government of
South Cotabato offered rewards for anyone who can give information
regarding the location of the bombers.
“The
province will give incentives [to the informants],”
South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes said.
Police
said four men carried out the simultaneous explosions.
YBL
operations remain suspended as of press time as there
was no clear security arrangements in and out of its
depot in Koronadal City.
Rajabia
Sundang, head of Kawagib Moro Human Rights Organization
in Mindanao, condemned the series of bombings as they
fear the government may use the issue to justify
arbitrary arrests and public presentation of falsely
accused Moro men as terrorists.
The Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, meanwhile, denied connections
with a Malaysian bomb expert hiding in the country.
The MILF
also urged the
US
government to closely investigate the alleged
intercepted excerpts from dozens of e-mails of a
Malaysian man in Northern California, accused of
providing cash, rifle scopes and two-way radios to his
brother, Zulkifli Abdhir.
Zulkifli
was described in the e-mail as “fighting with the MILF
in Mindanao.” Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, said the
revelation “ruined the name of our organization.”
Zulkifli
was last spotted in the marshy areas at the border of
Maguindanao, and North Cotabato, where the MILF has a
significant presence.
“We
don’t know him [Zulkifli]. The e-mail exchange could
have been manipulated,” Kabalu said.
“But it
could be true also. That’s why there is a need for
investigation,” he added.
Kabalu
said the MILF Central Committee will discipline Moro
fighters found out having links with any terror group.
Zulkifli
was born in
1966 in
the Malaysian state of Johore. He is a US-trained
engineer and allegedly heads the Kumpulun Mujahidin
Malaysia terrorist organization.
Zulkifli
is also allegedly a member of the Jema’ah Islamiyah
central command. Zulkifli has been in Mindanao since
August 2003. He is believed to have conducting
bomb-making trainings for the Abu Sayyaf.
A report
from
Malaysia
said Zulkifli and his brother Rahmat used Malay, coded
e-mail and codenames to communicate.
The
report said Rahmat also sent some $10,000 in the past
year to Zulkifli via two bank accounts in Cotabato and
through a Malaysian bank account. |
