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Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyaf suspected in Philippines cathedral boom
2008-04-14
The Philippines' most dangerous Muslim militant group is one of the main suspects in Sunday's twin bomb attacks, one outside a Catholic cathedral, in a southern city, security officials said on Monday. "The Abu Sayyaf Group is one of our primary suspects," said Jonathan Perez, Zamboanga City police chief, showing reporters a sketch of one of the suspected bombers. No one was hurt in the pre-dawn blasts in Zamboanga City, where dozens of members of the U.S. special forces are based, but the attacks raised fears of a renewed campaign of violence by Abu Sayyaf.

Perez said the type and make of the explosive devices used in the attack on the cathedral and another blast near a branch of Malaysian bank Maybank were similar to those used by the Abu Sayyaf in previous attacks in other parts of the south. "The signature on the bombs were almost identical. They used a mobile phone to detonate a crude bomb made from an 81mm and 60mm mortars," he said.

Perez said the suspects were trying to plant the bombs inside the Immaculate Concepcion Metropolitan Cathedral before the first mass on Sunday at 5 a.m., but they were forced to leave them under a pickup truck outside when people noticed them. "They threw the second bomb about a kilometre away near the MayBank branch when a group of police officers tried to accost them," he added.
Posted by:ryuge

#2  Unfortunately, my island of Guam may face a similar incident(s) one day, iff Radical Islamism and aligned ever succeed in penetrating the various Asian "land bridges" into WESTPAC + CENTPAC. WHETHER THEY KNEW IT OR NOT, THE PLANNERS OF 9-11 UNLEASHED A HOST OF POWERFUL FORCES-PRESSURES, INCLUDING THOSE NOT NECESS ISLAM/ISLAMIST-CENTRIC, THAT WERE FORMERLY EFFECTIVELY CONTAINED OR ISOLATED DURING THE COLD WAR.

Iff NOT controlled or nipped, GUAM + WESTPAC NOMINALLY FACE A NEW, POTENS SERIOUS ARMED/
VIOLENT CONFLICT ["Philippines"-style?]FOR MANIFEST DESTINY + CONTROL OF THE ISLANDS + REGION, over and exclusive of any other Nation-specific anti-US ambitions.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-04-14 18:50  

#1  The religion of peace!
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2008-04-14 08:07  

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