The bomb exploded yesterday afternoon in one of the busiest streets of Cotabato. It is the second attack in a few days: more violence is feared. So far no official claims, but suspicions converge on an Islamist group opposed to peace talks. The condemnation of the Aquino administration, which promises justice.

Manila (AsiaNewss / Agencies) - Eight people were killed in a car bomb attack yesterday in one of the busiest streets of Cotabato, a city on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, the scene of a decades long conflict between Manila troops and Islamist rebels. The bomb was placed in a vehicle and also wounded more than 30 people, some in seriously; fragments and splinters have reached nearby buildings, which caught fire. This is the second deadly attack in Mindanao in just ten days.  On 26 July, a bombing killed eight people.

Police and security forces closed the area around Sinsuat Avenue in Cotabato to traffic, the city is about 900 km from the capital and is inhabited by Christian and Muslim communities. In recent years it has been the scene of violent attacks by Islamic extremist groups and organized criminal gangs. For investigators yesterday's target could have been a top local official (the administrator Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi), whose car was in the area where the explosion took place.

Cotabato police chief Rolen Balquin reports that four people died on the spot while the others died in hospital overnight. Sayadi, the alleged target of the attack, was not injured but one of her bodyguards died in the explosion, the woman is also the sister of the mayor Japal Guiani, often the subject to death threats.

The head of National Security ordered the strengthening of controls and intelligence work in the southern Philippines, in the fear of fresh attacks. Among the possible targets shopping areas and other crowded places. The administration of President Benigno Aquino condemned the attack and assured a thorough investigation to bring those responsible to justice. At the moment there have been no official claims, but the suspicions of investigators converge on a dissident Islamist group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement. It is opposed to the peace talks between the government and the separatist rebel movement Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the protagonist of a decade's long war for the creation of an Islamic state in the southern Philippines, the only Asian country with a large Catholic majority.

 

 

• Mindanao
• philippines
• milf
• attack
• bombing
• government
• islamist
• separatist