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| Southeast Asia |
| Blast rocks Philippine port city |
| 2015-01-25 |
| [ARABNEWS] A powerful kaboom killed as many as two people and maimed 54 others in a southern Philippine port city that has been hit by similar blasts blamed on Moslem Death Eaters, police said Saturday. The blast occurred at a bar across the street from a busy bus terminal in Zamboanga city, damaged nearby establishments and hitting the victims with flying glass and debris. One officer was among the maimed, police said. Police suspected the Death Eater 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... group, which operates in Zamboanga and nearby provinces, saying the attack could have been in retaliation for the foiled prison escape of a brother of one of the group's leaders. Earlier this week, army special forces killed at least three Abu Sayyaf gunnies in running gunbattles and have continued to pursue the faceless myrmidons in nearby Basilan ...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts... province. The group has previously set off bombs to divert attention from military operations. Regional police chief Edwin Basbas said Sherlocks were looking for three men who were seen in the vicinity shortly before the blast. Zamboanga police information officer Alex Mabalot said the blast killed a cycle of violence taxi driver and another man who succumbed to his wounds. Only 10 people remained in hospitals, he said. The bar and the bus terminal had been separately hit several years ago by kabooms blamed on the Abu Sayyaf. At least two suspected faceless myrmidons were placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in another kaboom near a cop shoppe last month, he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |