Five more bombings feared in Mindanao; Indonesian invited for questioning

Five more bombings feared in Mindanao as police remains far from solving Wednesday’s series of blasts; Indonesian invited for questioning
By Ronron
January 12, 2007

Manila - Even as police is yet to find out the main culprits behind the series of bombings last Wednesday night in Mindanao, five more bombings are being feared to happen if an intelligence report is to be believed.

Chief Insp. Samson Obatay, spokesman of the Cotabato City police, said the report is in fact being regarded as A1, which means it is “probably true.”

“We received reports that five more bombs will be set off in Central Mindanao. There will be follow-on bombings, and our evaluation is that this report is A1. It’s probably true,” Obatay said in a phone interview Friday.

But there is no mention of a specific target place or time for the execution of the alleged bomb plot.

Nevertheless, Obatay said this is the reason why police forces in the city and in neighboring areas intensified their checkpoints, stepped up their visibility in public, and doubled their patrolling.

“Before the bombings last Wednesday, we also experienced the same. We received reports about bombings in Central Mindanao. So we are not taking these similar reports now lightly,” Obatay explained.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Central Mindanao has been on red alert even before Wednesday’s bombings in Cotabato City, General Santos City, and Kidapawan City that killed seven people and injured at least 44 others.

Obatay disclosed that since dawn of Thursday, they have been scouring the entire Cotabato City for a yellow Honda XRM motorcycle, which was described in another intelligence report as carrying bomb.

The search remains futile until yesterday afternoon.

Before 11 pm last Wednesday, a bomb blew off at the vicinity of Octavio Enterprises and Insular Life Building along SK Pendatun Avenue in Cotabato City, killing one garbage collector and wounding five others.

Two hours earlier, or at 8:40 pm, an explosion also rocked Kidapawan City in North Cotabato province, wounding six persons.

The incident, which happened near a police outpost on Santiago Boulevard.of said city, came almost three hours after the public market of General Santos City was bombed, killing six persons and leaving at least 33 others injured.

Police and military officials were quick to brand the incidents as “acts of terrorism” perpetrated probably by joint operatives of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Jeemah Islamiyah (JI), and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Lost Command.

They alleged that the improvised explosive device (IED) used in Cotabato City, which was made up of an 81 mm mortar and triggered by a cellular phone, bore the signature of the terrorist groups, particularly that of the Abdul Basit Usman, an MILF Lost Command operative.

Usman, who is at large, was already charged for the bombings last October in Makilala, North Cotabato; Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat; and, in Cotabato City.

Obatay said joint police and Army operatives are already tracking down Usman and his cohorts, numbering no less than 20, in the Liguasan Marsh in Maguindanao.

Obatay said Usman and the other members of the MILF Lost Command Special Operations Group (SOG) have a hideout reportedly in a sitio (sub-village) in Kabuntalan town.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Information Officer Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro yeseterday confirmed the tracking down operations of the military against Usman, but without disclosing his possible whereabouts, saying it is an operational detail.

He clarified, however, that Usman is just a probable suspect, and not the actual suspect, since there is no direct evidence against him yet in the latest spate of bombings.

The make-up of explosives used in Kidapawan and General Santos cities, on the other hand, remains unknown as of Friday. The laboratory examination and analysis on the debris recovered have yet to conclude, the police said.

Police earlier disclosed that nails were recovered from the blast site in General Santos City, which could have been used as splinters to hurt its target.

North Cotabato City police director Sr. Supt. Federico Dulay, in a phone interview, said yesterday that until the type of bombs used are established, and suspects are identified, the tri-bombings are far from being solved.

Unlike in Cotabato City and Kidapawan City, the police in General Santos City yesterday already invited one person who may turn out to be a suspect in the incident.

Sr. Supt. Alfredo Toroctocon, General Santos City police director, said in a phone interview yesterday that his investigators invited a certain Niko Kiramis, an Indonesian national, for questioning since he was reported by a police informant to be dubiously staying in the country.

“He is being questioned about his stay in the country, whether he has legal documents, and not as a suspect,” Toroctocon said.

When asked if the investigation is going to lead to determining whether or not Kiramis is a suspect to the bombings, Toroctocon said, “I would not go yet to (answering to) that extent.”

But Region 12 Police Director Chief Supt. German Doria said the Indonesian national was being questioned on his reported knowledge about the bombing in Bali, Indonesia.

“This is part of our efforts to prevent future attacks. This is also part of our coordination with our international counterparts,” Doria said in a phone interview.

He could not immediately say though if the foreigner is a suspect to the Bali bomb attacks in 2002 and 2005, and if he is a member of the JI.

Doria said the Indonesian could be released after six hours if police finds nothing against him.

In Kidapawan and Cotabato cities, police have only invited witnesses to issue statements about the incident, and not any possible suspects yet.

Dulay said it is going to be difficult to identify the suspects who left the IED in Kidapawan City because the place was dark.

The bombings in Mindanao, which happened on the eve of the start of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, prompted the government to place the entire region under Extreme-Critical terror alert, which means that follow-on bombings may be carried out./DMS