Philippines: Bomb kills 3, injures 7 in Muslim south

By Hader Glang and Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

At least three people died and seven others were wounded Thursday when a bomb rocked an island province in the southern Philippines in what appeared to be an attack on a vice mayor's convoy.

DXNO Radio Komunidad reported that an improvised explosive device had exploded along the road in Sunrise Village, 15 meters away from a residence of Isabela City Mayor Cherry Santos-Akbar at around 1 p.m. (GMT0500), hitting a Toyota pick-up.

It added that the device went off as Vice Mayor Abdulbaki Ajibon's convoy passed by, killing three people including a local government employee and two security escorts and wounding several others.

Komunidad reported that the blast was so powerful that one of the vehicles was severely damaged.

Mayor Santos-Akbar, who was in Manila Thursday, condemned the bomb attack in a later statement.

"I strongly condemn such outrageous act of terror and the person responsible should not be allowed to be free from his culpability as a result therefor," she said.

Akbar's husband, Wahab Akbar, then Basilan congressman, was himself killed with two others in an explosion at the entrance to the House of Representatives in the capital, Manila, in 2007.

"Rest assured that the chief investigator of our local police is tasked to investigate the incident to have the matter resolve in furtherance of justice and maintenance of peace and order in our locality," Santos-Akbar added

Capt. Roy Trinidad is reported to have said that security forces immediately cordoned off the area while an explosive and ordnance disposal team conducted post-blast investigations.

Authorities said they are looking into extortion and assassination as motives for the attack. Classes in educational institutions in Isabela were temporary suspended as tension gripped the city in the attack's wake.

In 2012, Ajibon and the local Red Cross head suffered injuries when an improvised bomb rigged in a parked motorcycle went off as they were passing in the same area at midday.

Ajibon and Jonathan Cabuyao sustained slight injuries in the blast. According to reports, the motorcycle containing the bomb was parked near Santos-Akbar's house.

Basilan is one of the Abu Sayyaf's two strongholds in the south.

Since 1991, the al Qaeda-linked group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a struggle for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.