[An Nahar] Philippine police believe a Shiite Moslemholy man was the likely target of kabooms that killed two people in Manila, an official said Sunday, rejecting Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... claims of involvement.
Six others were maimed when two kabooms rocked the office of the imam, Nasser Abinal, in the capital's busy Quiapo district on Saturday.
Oscar Albayalde, head of police forces in the capital, said the bomb was apparently intended for Abinal who is also government tax officer for the Manila region.
He was not at the office at the time.
"He admitted there were threats to his life in the past" while being questioned by police, Albayalde told AFP.
The bomb was carried in a package by a hired delivery man who handed it over to an aide of Abinal just before it went off, killing them both.
As police were searching the blast site late Saturday, another kaboom rocked the area, possibly from a second bomb planted earlier, said Albayalde.
"This has nothing to do with terrorism. There is no indication that this was done by a terror group, local or foreign," he said.
The Islamic State group has claimed it staged the kaboom.
"Five Shiites were killed and six others maimed in a kaboom by Islamic State fighters in the center of Manila," said a statement from Amaq, IS' propaganda arm.
Albayalde said this was just the IS custom of taking credit for any such incidents.
The Islamic State has carried out attacks in other countries on Shiite sites and events.
But Albayalde said the attack seemed to be targeting Abinal, adding that it may be for personal reasons, his work or his religion.
Tension remained high after the blasts, with police cordoning off the area again on Sunday after a suspicious bag was spotted.
[PNA]Four more Abu Sayyaf militants were killed after troops encountered two squads of rebels in two separate forested areas in Sumisip, Basilan on Saturday afternoon.
Military spokeswoman Jo-Ann Pentinglay said the slain rebels were part of a group of 15 to 20 terrorists. She said the bandits were in two separate groups when intercepted by the army's 4th Special Forces Battalion and 18th Infantry Battalion under the Joint Task Force Basilan who were on patrol.
The first firefight occurred at 2 p.m. Two rebels were killed and several others were injured. Troops later intercepted the fleeing rebels, killing two more at 9 p.m. Troops clearing the area discovered a temporary encampment near the encounter site.
Last week, two prominent Abu Sayyaf sub-leaders were killed in separate clashes in Inabanga, Bohol and Indanan, Sulu as the military stepped up its attacks on the terrorist group. Alhabsy Misaya, one of the most feared militants operating in Sulu, was killed by marines.
Days after Misaya's death, security forces intercepted and killed Muamar Askhali, alias Abu Rami, who was behind the beheading of two Canadian and a German hostage.
On Sunday, suspected Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters set off an improvised bomb along the national highway in Datu Hofer, Maguindanao, the second roadside bombing in the province in less than 24 hours. Captain Arvin John Encinas said, "The roadside bombs were meant for government forces cruising the road network."
Encinas said the Army had launched artillery attacks toward nearby Datu Salibo town in Maguindanao where the BIFF was planning to overrun an Army base in the village of Pagatin.
Continued on Page 47
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[AFP] Police investigators said that a Muslim cleric was the likely target of explosions that killed two people in Quiapo, Manila, on Saturday, rejecting the Islamic State claim that it was behind the attacks. The blasts that occurred three hours apart injured six persons. The explosions rocked the office of the imam, Nasser Abinal.
Oscar Albayalde, head of the National Region Police Office, said the bomb was apparently intended for Abinal, who is also government tax officer for the Manila region. Abinal was not at the office at the time.
"He admitted there were threats to his life in the past," while being questioned by police, Albayalde said.
The bomb was carried in a package by a hired delivery man who handed it over to an associate of Abinal just before it went off, killing them both.
As police were searching the blast site late Saturday, another blast shook the area, possibly from a second bomb planted earlier.
Albayalde said, "This has nothing to do with terrorism. There is no indication that this was done by a terror group, local or foreign."
The Islamic State group has claimed it staged the bombing. A statement from Amaq, IS's propaganda arm, said, "Five Shiites were killed and six others wounded in a bomb blast by Islamic State fighters in the center of Manila."
Albayalde said this was simply the IS custom of taking credit for any such incidents. He said the attack seemed to have targeted Abinal, adding that it may be for personal reasons, his work or his religion.
Just over a week ago, another blast wounded 14 people in Quiapo as Southeast Asian leaders were meeting for a summit a few kilometers away. The IS also claimed responsibility for the April 28 explosion.
Continued on Page 47
[BenarNews] Six Thai border policemen were slightly hurt Friday in an unusual attack when militants detonated a bomb from the Malaysian side of a narrow river that separates the two countries, according to officials.
The late-afternoon attack occurred in Na Nak, a sub-district of Narathiwat province that lies across the border from Kelantan state in Malaysia, when militants standing on the Malaysian side of the Golok River triggered the roadside bomb.
The attackers had planted the improvised bomb on the road and connected it to wiring that stretched across the river to a detonator on the bank in Kelantan, officials said. The militants set off the bomb as a truck carrying the border guards passed it.
The deputy investigator at Tak Bai district police station said, "The assailants triggered a bomb to try to kill the BPP [Border Patrol Police Company] 4413 who were patrolling the street along the Golok River. ... We found pieces of improvised bomb near a water gate (on Thai side) and the trigger-wire ran across from Malaysian side."
Such an attack is rare, but leaders of militant groups are thought to be hiding out on the Malaysian side of the border. Insurgents at times have crossed the frontier to carry out attacks on the Thai side before slipping back into Malaysian territory, according to Thai sources.
The Golok River, which is also known as the Kolok River, is where a suspected Islamic State militant from Malaysia is thought to have fled across to Thailand as he escaped from Malaysian security forces.
This week, Malaysian Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakar announced that his department had arrested six suspected IS members in raids in several states of Malaysia between late March and late April. But a seventh suspect, Muhammad Muzaffa Arieff Junaidi, was believed to have escaped into Narathiwat province, Thailand, on March 22.
On Thursday, the chief immigration police in Narathiwat, said his department had records showing that Muzaffa had crossed into Thailand and returned to Malaysia "several times," through a border checkpoint at Sungai Golok.
"The latest trip was on April 21 of this year. He has both countries’ immigration stamps. This happened before he was accused being an IS operative," said Noppadol Rakchart, the immigration police bureau chief in Narathiwat.
Continued on Page 47
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[PNA]Four more Abu Sayyaf militants were killed after troops encountered two squads of rebels in two separate forested areas in Sumisip, Basilan on Saturday afternoon.
[BenarNews] Six Thai border policemen were slightly hurt Friday in an unusual attack when militants detonated a bomb from the Malaysian side of a narrow river that separates the two countries, according to officials.
