A bomb stashed in a box of clothes exploded on a ferry in the southern Philippines as it was loading passengers yesterday morning, wounding at least 30 people including nine children, military officials said. The region had been on alert for terror attacks.
The MV Dona Ramona was docked at the wharf at Lamitan on Basilan island around 7:30am as it prepared to depart with more than 300 passengers for nearby Zamboanga City. At least six people were badly burned, including a soldier.
The south is the homeland of the country's Muslim minority and a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency.
PHOTO: AFP
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, condemned the attack, adding that police were ordered to track down the attackers and "to take necessary action to protect the citizens."
Army Brigadier General Raymundo Ferrer, who rushed to the scene, said no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the al-Qaeda-linked Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, which has a presence on Basilan, was a prime suspect.
He said a firebomb hidden in a cardboard box filled with old clothes apparently exploded in the ferry's canteen on the lower deck, citing a statement by the skipper and the nature of the victims' wounds.
"It's an IED," said Ferrer, the army commander in Basilan, referring to an improvised explosive device -- the military term for homemade bombs.
A suspicious-looking man left the bomb on a counter in the canteen at the rear of the ferry then hurriedly disembarked, Ferrer said by telephone, citing several witnesses.
Burning smell
He said people smelled burning powder or chemicals before the blast, minutes before the steel-hulled ferry's scheduled departure.
"They were set to leave and were just waiting for the coast guard clearance. If it happened at sea, [we'd] have a disaster in our hands," Ferrer said.
Ferry purser Nicholas Urciada, 61, said he was walking near the canteen when a loud explosion ripped through the ferry.
Fearing another blast, "I sat down and covered my face with my hands. I heard people running away on the upper deck yelling, `Bomb! Bomb!'" Urciada said by telephone from a Lamitan hospital, where he was being treated for burns on his left arm.
Victims
A military UH-1H helicopter airlifted three badly burned victims, including a child, to a hospital in Zamboanga City and was set to return to pick up two more victims.
Ferrer said the ship's security measures included two soldiers who stood at a gangplank to inspect incoming passengers.
Last year, a bomb went off on a ferry in Manila Bay, killing 116 people in the country's worst terror attack. Two bombs wounded 30 people in southern Zamboanga city early this month. Both attacks have been blamed on the Abu Sayyaf group.
Troops and police have been put on alert in major cities in the southern region of Mindanao because of possible diversionary attacks as the military wages a nearly two-month-old offensive to capture a group of Abu Sayyaf members, including the group's chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani, in southern Maguindanao Province.
Abu Sayyaf
While Janjalani and other Abu Sayyaf leaders were reported to be in Maguindanao, the rebel group has long organized units called Urban Terrorist Groups to strike in key cities, including in Basilan, which has always been regarded as a high-risk area for terror attacks.
At least five homemade bombs believed planted by Muslim militants have been found and safely defused by authorities across Mindanao since last month due to intensified patrols and random checks in public areas, the military's Southern Command said.
The Abu Sayyaf, which is on US and European lists of terrorist organizations, has been blamed for a number of other bombings. Philippine security officials say the group also has ties with the Jemaah Islamiyah network, which has cells in several Southeast Asian countries.
US counterterrorism training has been credited with helping the Philippine military oust the Abu Sayyaf from their southern strongholds, including Basilan, and capture or kill key commanders and members.
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