Teenage boy blamed for bombing

A 13-year-old witness has claimed that a 17-year-old boy was responsible for Sunday's bombing which killed a Marine soldier and hurt 17 other in Fort Pilar Shrine in Zamboanga City.

"I saw him, he's about 17 years old... he parked (the pedicab) and left and then there was an explosion. It was the bicycle that exploded," investigators quoted the 13-year-old witness as saying.

His name was not revealed. Meanwhile, authorities freed a man who was detained by soldiers for questioning, investigators said.

At the same time, Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Clara Lobregat said: "I believe the same group (which was involved in earlier bomb attacks) was (also) behind the attack (on Sunday) and I think foreign terrorists were aiding them or giving them instructions what to do."

A U.S. soldier and two Filipino civilians were killed in a bomb explosion outside a bar and near an arms depot in Zamboanga on October 2.

There was a bombing in a mall in Zamboanga on October 17. Three people were killed and 20 others were injured in a bus bombing in Manila on October 18. This was in the aftermath of a car bomb attack that killed nearly 200 people on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on October 12.

The southern Philippines became a target of bomb attacks after the U.S.-Philippine wargames were held to crush the hostage-taking Abu Sayyaf group from February to July 31 this year.

Meanwhile, an intelligence report said the spate of bombings in Zamboanga City, Metro Manila and Bali in Indonesia were attempts by the Jemaah Islamiyah to establish a "unified Islamic caliphate" in five south-east Asian countries – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

Other neighbouring countries would eventually be "absorbed", the report added.

This was the reason why some parts of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was considered a major base of the Al Qaida, second to Afghanistan, said the report.

It added that Australia, which is near Asean, will be placed "under strong threat" from extremists.

Jemaah Islamiyah reportedly coordinated with other militant groups in various countries, including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Philippines, the Kumpulan Militant in Malaysia and the Jashkar Jundullah in Indonesia among other groups, the report said.

Jemaah Islamiyah formed the "Rabitatul Mujahideen Alliance," a central committee composed of the leaders of the various militant groups in Asean, the report said.

The MILF was tasked with providing training camps for operatives of Jemaah Islamiyah and other members of the group.

The Jemaah Islamiyah would provide funding, and sharing of resources, including weapons and explosives.

The data was based on the allegations of 21 Jemaah Islamiyah members who were arrested in Singapore in September, four of whom claimed they were trained in MILF camps in Central Mindanao.

When the MILF camps were captured by the military in 2000, other camps were set up in Indonesia, the report said.

The recent bombings in Zamboanga City, the North Cotabato city of Kidapawan and the passenger bus attack in Quezon City last Friday "could be diversionary because they want to stage the attacks before Ramadan", the report added.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu dismissed the allegations, saying: "Terrorists do not allow themselves to be investigated. Terrorists do not negotiate; we negotiate. Terrorists do not believe in ceasefires; we observe the ceasefire agreement (with the government)."

"We are tired of denying the allegations," he added.

Authorities intensified security nationwide to stop further bomb attacks. People have stopped going to malls, movie houses, and restaurants despite police visibility in public places, including air and seaports, passenger buses and railway stations.

Some 600 U.S. Marines have arrived for the two-week military exercise with about 400 Filipino soldiers in central and northern Luzon.

Authorities are continuing an intensified search for suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiyah in the provinces.