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Hotel explosion kills 3, wounds 27 in Philippines
[Emirates 24/7] A powerful blast killed at least 3 people and maimed 27 others in a budget hotel packed with wedding guests in the southern Philippines, officials said Monday.

The kaboom, suspected to have been caused by a bomb, ignited a fire that gutted the two-story Atilano Pension House in downtown Zamboanga city late Sunday.

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 maimed were at death's door in a hospital, he said.

Zamboanga, a bustling city where U.S. counterterrorism troops are based, has been hit by deadly bombings blamed on al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
cut-throats in the past.

The blast occurred in room 226 on the second floor of the hotel, instantly killing two people staying in two adjacent rooms, which were devastated by the blast. A third body was found dead Monday on the ground floor, pinned by the cement slabs that collapsed from above.

Initial investigation pointed to a bomb, Lobregat said, adding that he has asked Zamboanga residents to stay calm.

"We should not show that we're panicking because that is what these troublemakers relish to see," Lobregat told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named by telephone. "We have good leads; we will get all of them."

Posted by: Fred 2011-11-28
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=334206