A man — listed by the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf as one of its suicide bombers — was aboard a ferry carrying 899 people that caught fire last week after an explosion, the coast guard chief said Tuesday. But Vice Adm. Arturo Gosingan said there was no indication so far that a bomb caused the blaze that gutted the Superferry 14 shortly after it left Manila on Friday. Police dogs checked the ferry before it departed.
| Other than the passenger manifest, the known terrorist identified by Abu Sayyaf as their boomer, and the fact that Filipino ferries were previously announced as a target, nope, nope, no evidence whatsoever. And Lassie needs retraining. |
Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaeda-linked group, claimed responsibility for the incident and identified the "suicide bomber" as Arnulfo Alvarado, 33, the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper reported. Police intelligence reports have cited the ferries, one of the main forms of travel in the sprawling archipelago, as a potential target for Abu Sayyaf. A spokeswoman for the ship's owner, WG&A, initially said the name of the alleged suicide bomber was not on the passenger manifest. But coast guard spokesman Arman Balilo said Tuesday that Alvarado was on the list of those who boarded the ferry. He also is classified as being missing. "There is still an investigation going on, but the position of the coast guard is that ... anybody can make (such) a statement," Balilo said, referring to the Abu Sayyaf's claim of responsibility.
| 'cept these boys have a habit of backing up their claims. |
Witnesses said a powerful explosion triggered the inferno.
The fire occurred the same day that two alleged Abu Sayyaf members were convicted of kidnapping an American in 2000 and another was arraigned for participating in a separate mass abduction. |