COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The vice mayor of Isabela City in Basilan province on Thursday survived a roadside explosion while on his way home from a session in the local council.
The roadside bomb was detonated from a distance using a mobile while the Toyota pick-up truck of Vice Mayor Abdulbaki “Panther” Ajibon was passing by a portion of a street straddling through Barangay Sunrise in Isabela City.
Isabela City is the old capital of Basilan, about 30 kilometers southeast of Lamitan City, the new seat of the provincial government.
The security-conscious Ajibon was riding a van ahead of his pick-up truck when the bomb went off.
Two of his police escorts and an employee of the city council riding the pick-up truck were killed in the blast.
A former barangay chairman in the city, Ramil Omar, who sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts his body, was declared dead on arrival by attending physicians in a nearby hospital.
At least six bystanders were wounded in the explosion, now undergoing medication at different hospitals.
The bombing came two days after Ajibon announced over a local radio station he is to aspire for the mayoral post of Isabela City during next year’s local elections.
The scene is near the residence of Isabela City’s now outgoing mayor, Cherylene Akbar, widow of the late former Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar, now in her third and last term as local chief executive.
Thursday’s roadside bombing was the second attempt on Ajibon’s life. He survived an earlier attack also in the same barangay several years ago.