Explosion rocks Cotabato City anew; one killed, more than 30 wounded

By Ronron
May 18, 2007

A seven-year-old boy was killed while over 30 other persons were wounded when an explosion rocked Cotabato City anew on Friday morning at a bus terminal, police said.

Sr. Supt. Paniares Adap, Cotabato City police chief, said the explosion happened at 11:05 am inside the compound of the Weena Bus Terminal along Don Rufino Alonzo St. in the city proper.

“Most likely, this is sabotage,” Cotabato City police spokesman Inspector Wales Kasuyo said of the incident in a separate phone interview.

Adap downplayed terrorism, saying the bus terminal manager, Guinaid Adam, confided to him that somebody has held a personal grudge against him over his position in the bus company.

“It’s not terrorism,” Adap said in a phone interview.

Adam is among at least 32 people wounded from the blast, all seeking treatment at two hospitals - 27 at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center, and five at the Cotabato Medical Specialist Hospital.

Adap said Adam is already on stable condition.

Kasuyo identified the killed victim as Adriani Watangao.

Kasuyo said the explosion happened near the canteen of the bus terminal, hitting most of the passengers awaiting for their bus ride. It damaged the canteen and Adam’s office.

The explosive device, its makeup is still under investigation, is believed to have been placed inside a bag left near the canteen.

Initial investigation showed that minutes prior to the blast, Adam received a telephone call from an unidentified male person, saying that there is an explosive placed inside the compound of the bus terminal.

But Adap could not immediately say if the caller is the same person with whom he Adam has a rift.

The explosion happened even as the city police was placed on full alert status in connection with the holding of the elections last Monday.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), for its part, however, is not immediately ruling out terrorism, saying that the placement of the explosive device is a signature among terrorists.

“It’s a kind of explosive device that the terrorists could use,” said AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr.

Esperon reserved his comment on whether or not the latest blast is a handiwork of the Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian cell of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, until the investigation is over./DMS