Sayyaf hand seen in twin explosions

COTABATO CITY — Citing the type of improvised explosives used, the military said the twin blasts that rocked the cities of Cotabato and Koronadal last Saturday, wounding four people, could be the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf.

Lt. Col. Franklin del Prado, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the blast near the Koronadal public market, for instance, could be aimed at diverting the military’s attention from its pursuit of Abu Sayyaf rebels in Maguindanao.

Since July 1, more than a dozen followers of Abu Sayyaf chief Khadafy Janjalani have been killed by 6th ID soldiers at the boundary of the Maguindanao towns of Guindulungan, Talayan and Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Del Prado, however, said probers were not discounting other motives for the bombings.

Maj. Gen. Agustin Dema-ala, 6th ID chief, said the twin explosions could be related since the improvised explosive devices used were similarly "low intensity" and "just meant to scare."

"We rule out other groups. We have no problem with the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front)," he said, adding that the blasts bore the style of the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terror group.

A third bomb made of 60-mm mortar was found and defused in Marbel, South Cotabato, Dema-ala said.

Three people — a woman and two tricycle drivers — were wounded in the explosion near the main gate of the Koronadal public market. The explosive was contained in a carton box which an unidentified man left with one of the victims.

Ordnance experts reportedly defused two other explosive devices — one fashioned from a 105 Howitzer cannon projectile, and the other from a 60-mm mortar — near the public market.

Senior Superintendent Getulio Napeñas, South Cotabato police director, said the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah could be involved in the bombing, although he said his men were still probing the incident.

Six hours before the Koronadal blast, a 13-year-old female high school student sustained minor injuries when a "low order" bomb went off near the office of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Parouk Hussin in Cotabato City.

Del Prado said the 6th ID is certain that the twin explosions had nothing to do with the Aug. 8 ARMM elections, noting that both the cities of Koronadal and Cotabato are not component areas of the autonomous region.

Following the blasts, Philippine National Police chief Director General Arturo Lomibao ordered police units nationwide to "refocus" their efforts from mass actions to security and crime prevention. — With Roel Pareño and Cecille Suerte Felipe