Sulu governor survives blast; 10 hurt

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan escaped unhurt in a roadside bombing near the provincial capitol in Patikul town yesterday.

Two civilians and eight escorts of Tan – five policemen and three soldiers – were wounded in the attack, said Chief Superintendent Bensali Jabarani, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

 “I am safe and alright now,” Tan later told reporters. “I heard an explosion, then firing followed.”

Tan ordered police and the military to determine the group that carried out the attack.

The bomb exploded some 70 meters away from the provincial capitol, which Tan’s convoy had just left, past noon yesterday. The governor was en route to his house at Camp Asturias.

Tan, however, could not comment on whether the attack was related to his order for security forces to rescue Italian Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni from the Abu Sayyaf.

Vagni is the last of three International Committee of the Red Cross volunteers still being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf, who seized them last Jan. 13.

The two others, Swiss Andreas Notter and Filipino Jean Lacaba, walked to their freedom last April 2 and 18, respectively.

Officials said Vagni is being held captive by the group led Albader Parad and Umbra Jumdail alias Dr. Abu Pula.

Security forces, in their effort to locate Vagni and his captors, clashed with the gunmen in separate areas on Mt. Tumatangis near Indanan, where the Abu Sayyaf is believed to be keeping Vagni.    – With Cecille Suerte Felipe