Manila: One man was killed and two others wounded as a bomb exploded at a bus terminal in the southern Philippines, according to a radio report.
A Pontongan, a member of an ethnic group called Manobo, Artemio Rivera, and June Sabando, were identified as those wounded when a bomb exploded in Carmen Public Terminal in Carmen, North Cotabato at 10.40am yesterday morning, said Governor Emmylou Mendoza of North Cotabato.
All three were rushed to two hospitals in Kabacan. But the name of the one man who died while undergoing treatment has not been released by those in charge of investigating the incident.
One of the wounded, whose name was also not released, was found with a bag, which contained the improvised explosive device that exploded, Mendoza said. Authorities have launched a detailed investigation in an attempt to capture the people behind the bombing incident.
The explosive, made of 81-mm mortar, destroyed a large part of the bus terminal, Captain Razaleigh Bansawan, of the 6th Infantry Division, said in another radio interview.
The military have established checkpoints around Carmen, Bansawan said, adding that no group has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Before the incident, police and military had been deployed as security during the celebration of the towns 54th anniversary.
Last October, three people were charged with a bomb blast that killed 10 in a luxury passenger bus in Matalam town, in the north Cotabato province, on October 21.
Last August, armed men dressed as policemen killed a driver and two police officers before burning a provincial bus, on a major thoroughfare in Kapatagan town, Lanao del Norte, also in the south.
Extortion gangs
Separatist rebel groups and extortion gangs were always blamed for the bomb attacks which targeted bus companies.
Unidentified gun men had abducted two teachers, but one of them was released one hour later in the southern Philippines.
Celia Sosas, head of the Baas Elementary School, and Merlyn Yacapin, a teacher in the same school were abducted when gun men, believed to be Muslim separatists, attacked the public school in Basilan, before lunch-break on Monday, Major General Romeo Lustestica, acting Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command chief, said in a radio interview.
The gunmen freed Yacapin as they passed through a nearby village before 1pm. They did not, however, release Sosas as they headed in the direction of Tuburban town, said Major General Lustestica.
Abu Sayyaf havens
Members of the Army's 32nd Infantry Batallion were mobilised to pursue the gun men and their kidnap victim, explained Lustestica. No group or individual has yet to claim responsibility for the abduction.
On November 2 last, the Abu Sayyaf group, led by Nur Hassan Jamiri, abducted a female trader, by the name of Rosa Baranda, in Ungkaya Pukan town, Basilan and demanded P3 million (Dh250,000) for the woman's release.
The Abu Sayyaf group operates mainly in Basilan and the Jolo islands in the south. It has been linked to Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network. Authorities have blamed the Abu Sayyaf Group for kidnappings, be-headings, bombings and other terror activities in the south.
