The Jakarta Post, 10/11/2006 11:09:45 AM
RP on alert for terror bombings after blast kills 6
MANILA (AP): Authorities in the insurgency-wrecked southern Philippines on
Wednesday braced for possible terror attacks during town festivals, a day after
suspected al-Qaida-linked militants detonated a bomb, killing six people.
The explosion late Tuesday blasted a stall selling alcohol during a festival in the town
of Makilala, 950 kilometers (590 miles) southeast of Manila, said North Cotabato
provincial police chief Federico Dulay. Six people were killed and at least 29
werewounded.
Another bomb went off in a market in Tacurong city in another part of Midanao island
hours earlier, wounding six people. A security guard spotted the bomb hidden in a bag
and threw it away from the crowd before it exploded, army Col. Felipe Tabas said.
The U.S., Australian and British embassies issued warnings against travel to
Mindanao and said the threat of imminent attacks or kidnappings was high across the
archipelago, specifically in places frequented by foreigners.
Philippine security officials said the deadly blast may have been linked to last week's
arrest of Istiada Binti Oemar Sovie, the wife of Dulmatin, one of Asia's most wanted
terror suspects for his alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
He another Indonesian, Umar Patek, are believed to be hiding on Jolo with Abu Sayyaf
guerrillas.
Dulay told The Associated Press the device in Makilala, made from an 88 mm mortar
shell, was similar to homemade bombs used in past attacks by the Abu Sayyaf, a
group blacklisted by Washington and notorious for bombings, kidnappings and
beheadings.
"The signature of the bomb is the same," he said. "The Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah
Islamiyah and the only ones capable of this."
He said security forces across Mindanao, home to a decades-old Muslim insurgency,
were on alert for more bomb attacks as several towns held festivities attracting large
numbers of people.
In Kidapawan, the capital of North Cotabato, authorities prepared for a fruit festival
Wednesday.
In southern Zamboanga city, police were on alert to safeguard an annual Roman
Catholic festival that culminates Thursday with a public parade. (**)
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