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| Southeast Asia |
| Filipino troops defuse 3rd bomb after hostel blast |
| 2011-04-11 |
| [Straits Times] ARMY troops have safely defused a powerful bomb outside a school in Basilan province in the southern Philippines. A blast destroyed a lodging house and another explosive was found near a hotel earlier in the same province. Army front man Mr Alex Macario says Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... bully boyz most likely left the bomb, which was hidden in a biscuit can. It was found by troops Sunday in front of a school compound in Basilan's Lamitan town. Mr Macario says the military has tightened security after a bomb destroyed a lodging house in the Christian town in predominantly Mohammedan Basilan late Saturday. No injuries were reported. He says another bomb was found near a hotel in Basilan's capital city of Isabela later. Washington has blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist group. |
| Posted by:Fred |