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| Southeast Asia | ||
| Bomb blast in southern Philippine city kills at least 12 | ||
| 2003-05-10 | ||
| JPost - reg req'd - Coffee warning for last line A bomb blast on Saturday at a crowded market in a southern Philippine city killed at least 12 people. About a dozen others were seriously injured and brought to a hospital in Koronadal city, said police chief Superintendent Danilo Posadas. Two hours later, another bomb was found near the market and taken away by a police bomb squad to be defused. Posadas said an initial investigation indicated the bomb that exploded around 3:30 p.m. was fashioned from an 81 mm mortar. Police suspect the person who planted the bomb died at the scene. "Terrorists did it," Posadas said, without elaborating. Like he needed to? Most armed robbers don't use 81 mm mortars The market was the scene of a similar bombing last month that killed two people. Police and the military blamed that bombing on the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Saturday's blast killed two women vendors and three passersby at the market, and seven others died in the hospital. One of the five killed at the market was believed to have carried the bomb. A witness saw a man placing a bag on the sidewalk in front of a glass supply store at the market. It went off as he turned his back on it. D'OH - cheap timers! The area was crowded because it was market day for traders in Koronadal, capital of South Cotabato province, about 980 kilometers (610 miles) southeast of Manila. About two hours after the bombing, residents reported to police a cylinder containing cooking gas abandoned in front of a fire station near the market. A police bomb squad found a bomb with a timer attached to the cylinder and took it away to defuse it. a two-fer day! Provincial Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes condemned the bombing but appealed for calm.
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| Posted by:Frank G |