Six killed in separate security incidences across Philippines

Philippines, Dec 04, 2008

Late on Thursday (December 4), two powerful bomb blasts jolted Isulan City on the southern violence-ridden island of Mindanao, wounding at least five people, officials told Reuters.  According to city police chief Ruel Sermese, a crude bomb exploded near a drug store in Isulan City, where five passers-by were wounded by the blast. Just minutes after the first explosion, another crude bomb was detonated a short distance away outside the office of an electric cooperative. The second bomb blast was detonated in a deserted area and did not cause any injuries. Sermese reported that initial investigation into the incident has so far shown that both bombs were made from mortar shells and placed in a shoe box tucked inside a bag. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, however, Muslim rebels have been fighting a long-running insurgency in Mindanao and since July have been responsible for at least three bomb attacks on bus terminals on the southern island. Meanwhile, in the northern island of Luzon, the mayor of Rizal town in Cagayan province, Mayor Raul dela Cruz, was killed along with three of his security escorts after they were ambushed by a group of unidentified men on Wednesday (December 3) night, the Manila Times reported. Four others were wounded during the attack and were taken to the Saint Paul Hospital, police told the Inquirer. According to reports reaching Camp Carme national headquarters in Quezon City, the government bus they were traveling in was ambushed at around 10:00 pm at Maddarulug Village in Solana town. Following the incident, Senior Superintendent Moro Virgilio Lazo, Cagayan police director, told the Inquirer that police had mobilized checkpoints in the province and had also organized teams to pursue the assailants. During a phone interview with the Inquirer in Manila, Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, director of police regional office 2 (PRO 2) said the investigation was ongoing, but that they were initially looking at political rivals, personal enemies and even the communist New People's Army (NPA) as possible culprits for the deadly ambush. Damian reported that there had yet been a definite motive behind the attack and that only theories had been presented. He told the Manila Times that Dela Cruz had been given three police security escorts due to recent death threats since becoming mayor of Rizal. In a separate incident, a policewoman was killed Wednesday and at least four others were wounded when alleged members of the NPA, hiding in a sugarcane field, ambushed their patrol vehicle in Victorias City in Negros Occidental province. The Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported two backpacks and a rifle grenade were recovered by police officers following the attack. In addition, more government troops have been dispatched to the area to pursue the rebels responsible for the attack. Since the late 1960's the communist rebels have been battling the government, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia, DPA reported.