4 killed, 8 hurt in Jolo bombing

ZAMBOANGA CITY—AT least four persons were killed and eight were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off in downtown Jolo in Sulu province at 6:55 p.m. Saturday, the military’s Western Mindanao Command said.

Col. Randolph Cabangbang said the bomb was placed in an electric power generator just outside the door of the Cleopatra Commercial Store on Serantes Street.

Two died while being treated in a hospital.

The identity of the perpetrators and their motive could not yet be ascertained, Cabangbang said late Saturday.

But Sulu provincial police chief Senior Supt. Antonio Freyra said Sunday the Abu Sayyaf group likely planted the bomb.

“Our initial report is the Abu Sayyaf was behind the bombing. It is possible this was in retaliation for the killing by police of an Abu Sayyaf member last week,” Freyra said.

Jolo Police Chief Glenn Roy Gabor said the store was a favorite of Philippine Marines. It was closed and most of the victims were hang- ing out in a nearby park.

The bomb went off in the same commercial area where the Abu Sayyaf member was shot dead after police caught him extorting money from shop owners, Freyra said.

Also on Saturday, two bombs exploded outside the compound of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in Cotabato City.

Supt. Danny Reyes, city police director, said the first explosion occurred at around 6:30 a.m. some 100 meters from the gates of the ARMM compound.

Responding bomb experts, he said, recovered an improvised bomb fashioned from an 81-millimeter mortar shell and a grenade near the explosion site.

“While we were investigating at the site, another explosive went off outside the office of the Regional Ports Management Authority in the ARMM compound, leaving one person wounded, identified as 18- year-old Brando Esmael,” he said.

Onthursday night, a bomb exploded near the Barter Trade Center, a few meters from the ARMM compound, leaving three people wounded.

Reyes said it was not clear who were behind the bombings and what their motive could be. “We are still investigating the incidents,” he said.

Acting ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman blamed the bombings in Cotabato City on “saboteurs” of the reform agenda that his administration has been putting in place.

“These are probably the handiwork of those who are opposed to reforms that we are implementing in the region,” Hataman said.

Security has been tightened on heavily forested Jolo island to prevent future attacks from the Abu Sayyaf, which has long used kidnappings for ransom and extortion to raise funds, Freyra said.