2 hurt as blasts rock Cotabato

COTABATO CITY — Two people were critically wounded when powerful improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were set off yesterday morning near a fast-food chain in this city, police said.

Two bombs, fashioned from 60-millimeter mortars, were planted at a concrete fence at the rear of a branch of the Jollibee hamburger chain along Macacua Street at 11:25 a.m., as the lunch crowd was building up, Senior Inspector Samson Obatay said. A third, undetonated bomb was found by the city bomb squad.

Chief Superintendent German Doria, the regional police director, said al-Qaeda-linked militants — the Abu Sayyaf and Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) — were suspected of planting the bombs, although he didn’t offer any evidence.

"No one else would be behind this," Doria said.

Cotabato police chief Superintendent Peraco Macacua said investigators recovered three sets of mortar fins as well as shattered and burnt parts of a cell phone, leading them to believe the device was triggered remotely using the mobile phone.

He said the blast shattered the restaurant’s windows and those of two vehicles parked nearby.

Two people were wounded in the legs and treated in a hospital, officials said. Obatay told Agence France Presse that two parked vehicles were also damaged.

Macacua said the police have yet to determine if the bombing was the handiwork of terrorist groups or of a big extortion ring operating in Mindanao.

The thick concrete fence absorbed the impact, leaving the restaurant intact, Obatay said. A third device, which failed to explode, was also recovered by a bomb squad.

"This could be the handiwork of the JI or the Abu Sayyaf, because the explosives have the signatures of these groups," Obatay said.

The Abu Sayyaf and JI bomb signature, Macacua said, is that their bombs are fashioned from live mortar rounds rigged with battery-operated blasting mechanisms attached to cellular phones.

"But we have to investigate deeper first before we can come out with a sensible conclusion on who perpetrated the bombing," he said.

Witnesses said they saw a man leave a carton box containing the explosive in front of the H&F Refreshment Parlor next to the Jollibee restaurant. The bomb went off about three minutes after the suspect left it.

The people injured in the bomb attack were identified as Malang Utto, a barangay official of Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao and Fatima Diocolano. The victims were rushed to the hospital for treatment of the shrapnel wounds they sustained.

The scene of the crime is less than 300 meters from the city’s Police District 1. Yesterday’s bomb attack was preceded by the bombing of the Kim San department store in Tacurong City, which dealt injuries to four people.

The management of the Kim San department store had received an extortion letter from a certain Abu Solaiman, who had demanded P50,000 monthly as "protection" money prior the bomb attack.

Police stepped up security around Cotabato, a mixed Muslim-Christian city in Maguindanao province where Muslim militants are known to operate and where clan feuds are common.

The attack came a week after the military announced that it had recovered the remains of a man they believe could be that of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani, who they claim was killed in a clash in September last year.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small gang of self-styled militants blamed for a spate of kidnappings and bombings in recent years. Along with the JI, the group is on the United States government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Both groups are on the run from a massive military operation backed by US intelligence on the southern island of Jolo where JI leaders Dulmatin and Umar Patek are believed to be hiding out with other foreign JI militants.

Patek and Dulmatin are wanted for the October 2002 night club bombings in Bali, Indonesia, where 202 mostly foreign tourists were killed.

Last month, the military said an informant led them to a jungle grave in Jolo where he claimed Abu Sayyaf chieftain Janjalani was buried in October after succumbing to battle wounds.

Authorities are awaiting the results of DNA tests to confirm if the body is that of Janjalani. — With Roel Pareño, AFP and AP