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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippines blast leaves 12 dead, 24 wounded in market |
| 2016-09-03 |
| [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A powerful kaboom killed 12 people and maimed at least 24 others at a night market late Friday in President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown in the southern Philippines amid a security alert due to a major offensive against 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... gunnies in the region, officials said. Regional military commander Lt. Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero said it was not immediately clear what caused the kaboom at a massage section of the market, which was cordoned off by police bomb experts and Sherlocks. Police Chief Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan said witnesses gave contrasting accounts, with some saying that a cooking gas tank went kaboom!while others suggested it may have been some kind of an explosive. Police set up checkpoints in key roads leading to the city, a regional gateway about 980 kilometers (610 miles) south of Manila. TV footage showed plastic chairs strewn about at the scene of the blast, where witnesses said the bodies of some of the dead lay scattered a few hours after the kaboom. Ambulance vans drove to and from the area following the blast. Full alert Police forces in the capital Manila went on full alert at midnight following the deadly blast. Duterte, who served as a longtime mayor of Davao before assuming the presidency in June, was in the region but has not issued any statement. His front man, Ernesto Abella, urged the public to be vigilant. "While no one has yet grabbed credit it is best that the populace refrain from reckless speculation and avoid crowded places," Abella said. "There is no cause for alarm, but it is wise to be cautious." Philippine forces were on alert amid an ongoing military offensive against Abu Sayyaf turbans in southern Sulu province, which intensified last week after the gunnies beheaded a kidnapped young villager. The gunnies threatened to launch an unspecified attack after the military said 30 of the gunnies were killed in the weeklong offensive. Some commanders of the Abu Sayyaf, which is blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization for deadly bombings, ransom kidnappings and beheadings, have pledged allegiance to the ISIS. The military, however, says there has been no evidence of a direct collaboration and murderous Moslem action may have been aimed at bolstering their image after years of combat setbacks. |
| Posted by:Fred |