BASILAN BLAST KILLS 10, CHILD
AFP says van driver, a follower of Abu Sayyaf leader Furuji Indama, wore improvised explosive device Other fatalities include 5 Cafgu personnel, 3 other civilians
Eleven people were killed, including a 10-year-old child and a soldier, in a car explosion blamed on the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group on Tuesday morning, July 31, in Lamitan City in Basilan.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Colonel Edgard Arevalo said the driver of the van where an improvised explosive device (IED) went off was among those killed.
Authorities have yet to identify him, but they said he was a follower of Abu Sayyaf leader Furuji Indama based in Basilan.
Malacañang strongly condemned the incident, which it branded as a terror attack and a war crime.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the latest terrorist attack in Basilan perpetrated in violation of our laws,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. told Palace reporters.
Roque said the Basilan attack was considered a “war crime,” since it violated Section 4(c)(1) of Republic Act (RA) 9851.
“We note that even in times of war, the attack constitutes a war crime because it constitutes
HARRY ROQUE JR.
an indiscriminate attack, which is prohibited by [Section] 4(c)(1), Attacks on Civilian, by RA 9851,” he said.
RA 9851’s Section 4(c)(1) states that “intentionally directing attacks the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities” constitutes a war crime.
Aside from the driver, soldier and child, Arevalo said other fatalities were five Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) personnel and three other civilians.
Among the civilians was a woman who was a relative of one of the slain Cafgu personnel.
The explosion also wounded seven, including six scout rangers and one Cafgu personnel.
They were brought to the Camp Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga City.
Arevalo said based on initial information they received, the troops stopped a white van in Sitio Bulanting, Barangay Colonia after receiving an intelligence report that a van carrying explosives was going to pass through the area.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the latest terrorist attack in Basilan perpetrated in violation of our laws.