Military tags JI in Sultan Kudarat blast

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines — A bomb explosion rocked Mindanao early Monday in what probers initially identified as the handiwork of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Col. Marlou L. Salazar, commander of the 601st Brigade, said an improvised explosive device inside a garbage bag exploded in Isulan, the capital of Sultan Kudarat province, about 50 kilometers from this city. No injuries was reported. "The bomb exploded prematurely before dawn about 50 meters away from the gate of the town’s public market," Mr. Salazar said. Senior Superintendent Suharto Tocao, provincial police director, said another package containing two bombs was discovered near the Tamundong Clinic in Tacurong City, in the same province, at around 8 a.m. "The improvised explosive device in a shopping bag was left in a grassy area and was successfully defused by military and police bomb experts," he told BusinessWorld. Prior to the explosion and the discovery of the bombs, Mr. Tocao admitted the lingering terror threat in his province, citing its proximity to Maguindanao, a province within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Maguindanao, a known hotbed of the Moro insurgency, has large marsh areas allegedly used as hiding place by al Qaeda-linked JI operatives. The latest terror attempts in Sultan Kudarat came amid the continuous military offensive against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commanders Umbra Kato and Bravo. The two MILF commanders were blamed for the eruption of hostilities last month in several provinces of Mindanao. Citing initial investigation on the foiled bomb try, Superintendent Joel B. Limson, Tacurong police chief, said the explosive device was from an 81-mm mortar shell with a cellphone as triggering device. "It has the signature of the Jemaah Islamiyah and the al Khobar terror groups," he said in a radio interview. The JI was listed by the United States as a terrorist organization with supposed links to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terror network. Al Khobar has been blamed for the series of bomb attacks on bus companies in Mindanao in its extortion racket. Meanwhile, the MILF has denied involvement in the blast. "We are now becoming the victim of this finger-pointing," MILF’s civil-military officer Eid Kabalu told BusinessWorld. The military Mondaysaid it is looking at the "lawless MILF group" as responsible behind the bomb attacks to divert military action against hard-line MILF commanders. However, Maj. Armand Rico of the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command clarified they are not discounting the possible involvement of other groups in the bomb attack. — Romer S. Sarmiento with a report from Darwin T. Wee, BusinessWorld