3 dead in Zambo hotel blast

ZAMBOANGA CITY­  ,Philippines – A powerful blast killed at least three people and wounded 27 others in a budget hotel packed with wedding guests here, officials said yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, city police director, said the bomb exploded at around 9:30 p.m Sunday in one of the more than 30 rooms of the two-story Atilano Pension House in Atilano Drive, Mayor Jaldon street in Barangay Canelar.

The blast occurred in room 226 on the second floor of the hotel, instantly killing two people­ – identified as Roel Barcelona and a certain Mariz­ – who were staying in two adjacent rooms.

A third body was found dead yesterday on the ground floor, pinned by the cement slabs that collapsed from above. He was identified as Fidel Aguias, 24, a village councilman of Pagadian City.

The blast was so powerful it caused much of the second floor to collapse, blew off the hotel roof and shattered glass panes and windows from nearby buildings, Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat said.

Two of the wounded were in serious condition in a hospital, he said.

Lobregat has asked Zamboanga residents to stay calm even as he called for a thorough investigation into the incident. 

“This act is definitely a barbaric act and we are condemning it,” he said.

De Ocampo said some of the victims were pinned by falling debris, while the rest sustained injuries from flying shards and broken glasses from glass walls and window blades.

He said initial investigation showed that the bomb debris has the component of improvised TNT with fuel.

“It appeared the bomb was an incendiary type of IED (improvised explosive device),” De Ocampo said.

Police said they had also found traces of chemicals used in making improvised bombs hours after the Sunday night blast.

Abu Sayyaf  behind attack?

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but police director Felicisimo Khu, chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operation (DIPO) for Western Mindanao areas, said the bomb signature points to the group of Abu Sayyaf leader Puruji Indama.

“The bomb components that was initially gathered from the blast site was the same component used by the Abu Sayyaf group,” Khu told a press conference yesterday.

 Khu cited the June 25 explosion at Mon’s Kitchenet in Basilan and on Oct. 9 at the Red Palm Pension in Barangay Guiwan where the bomb debris also had similar components of TNT mixed with fuel oil.

Lobregat, meanwhile, said they are looking at a certain Nab who checked at room number 226, where the bomb exploded.

The suspect was reportedly with two other persons – a female and male who hurriedly left – according to some of the hotel personnel.

The city of Zamboanga has been the target of frequent bomb attacks, often carried out by Islamic extremists from the surrounding areas or nearby islands.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines said it will deploy an additional company of soldiers to secure the blast site and nearby areas.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome also directed all police commanders to implement intensified intelligence monitoring, target hardening, and damage mitigation to prevent more attacks. – Roel Pareño, AP, Alexis Romero, Jaime Laude, Cecille Suerte Felipe