Experts find pattern similar to earlier blasts

Manila: The detonation of a bomb rigged to a motorcycle near the entrance of the House of Representatives building that left four people dead and 13 others injured on Tuesday bore striking similarities to past terror attacks in Mindanao, investigators said yesterday.

But Lieutenant Colonel Buenaventura Pascual, commander of the military's Civil Military Operations, said it was still too early to point an accusing finger at the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group for the attack.

"It is quite alarming because not only is this beginning to happen in Metro Manila, but these lawless elements have also begun employing high-tech bombs," he said.

Cell phone-detonated explosives packed on a motorcycle had been used by the Abu Sayyaf in an attack in 2004 but no one has, so far, claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

Common thread

A veteran explosives investigator also confirmed that the use of a motorcycle to deliver an improvised explosive device had actually been used twice by the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao.

Both attacks occurred in 2002, said the investigator, who requested anonymity.

Similar explosives

The agent said the Fitmart department store in General Santos City had been bombed on April 21, 2002, killing 15 people and injuring 60 others.

Police said the bomb had been left on a tricycle, encased in a small jet pump.

On October 2, 2002, a motorcycle bomb exploded near an open-air restaurant outside Camp Enrile Malagutay in Zamboanga. At least 23 people were wounded in the attack, including a US serviceman.

The investigator said the explosion at the Lower House of Congress and the two attacks in Mindanao had more similarities than just the method of delivery of the devices.

The use of nitroglycerin and pentaerythritoltetranitrate (PETN), used in dynamites and detonating cords respectively, also was a recurring theme, he said.

Pascual, however, said there were no plans to deploy more soldiers in Metro Manila.