M A I N   N E W S

Series of blasts rock Manila 
Suspect held, communists’ hand suspected

MANILA, Dec 30 (Reuters) - A series of bombs exploded in the Philippines capital Manila today killing at least 11 persons, wounding scores and plunging the city of 12 million people into panic. A suspect was taken into custody later in the evening.

Ambulance sirens wailed as the police rushed to the bomb scenes on a suburban train, a bus, a park bench near the US Embassy, near the international airport’s power generating plant and outside a luxury hotel.

The first four almost simultaneous explosions were at around noon. A fifth bomb, about two hours later, killed a policeman who was trying to defuse it.

Brig Gen Avelino Razon, a superintendent of police, told Reuters 10 persons were killed and 43 were injured in the noon explosions. DZMM radio station said 56 persons were wounded.

There was no immediate word on who was responsible, but city police chief Edgardo Aglipay said the bombings could be in response to the arrest of the brother of a feared Muslim separatist leader.

Hector Janjalani, the brother of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadafy Janjalani, was arrested in the city earlier this week after being found in the possession of drugs and weapons.

“We have been on alert since the arrest of Janjalani’s brother,” Aglipay told the ABS-CBN television channel.

The most devastating explosion was in one of the coaches of a crowded suburban train as it was pulling into a station. At least nine persons were killed and 30 wounded, Razon said.

Another bomb went off on a park bench near the US Embassy, injuring five persons.

A third bomb exploded on a bus as it neared a terminal, killing one person. “It was so powerful it stood the bus up on end,” said a reporter for ABS-CBN.

Several cars in the vicinity were badly damaged.

A fourth explosion was reported in Manila’s international airport. Several people were injured, witnesses at the scene said.

The police said the bomb exploded in a warehouse some 700 metres (yards) from the passenger terminal.

City police chief Aglipay said the fifth bomb was found near the Dusit Hotel in the Makati financial district and was being defused when it went off.

The nation has been on edge for weeks over the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada on charges, including bribery and corruption.

The trial resumes on Tuesday after a 10-day recess for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The Abu Sayyaf, which operates mostly in the south of the Roman Catholic nation, burst into prominence earlier this year with the abduction of more than 20 persons from a diving resort in nearby Malaysia.

They reportedly received millions of dollars in ransom for freeing several of the hostages but the military launched an offensive after the guerrillas kidnapped more people.

Some 40 were kidnapped in all, and all but two have either been released, escaped or rescued. An American and a Filipino are still held.

DPA adds: Press Under Secretary Mike Toledo said President Joseph Estrada was already meeting with heads of government security agencies to discuss the incidents.

“The President condemns in the strongest possible terms these attacks, which occurred during the holiday season,” he said. “This is saddening. Innocent people are being victimised.”

Toledo said Estrada had ordered the military and police to step up security in the metropolis, particularly public areas and vital government installations.

AFP: Philippine Communists and Muslim separatists could have joined forces and launched the series of bomb attacks across Manila that killed at least 11 persons and wounded about 80 others, the military said.

“From what we can see this could be (the handwiwork of) the CPP-NPA,” armed forces spokesman Brig Gen Jaime Canatoy told radio station DZMM.

“Remember they also have an alliance with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).”

The New People’s Army (NPA), is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Phiilppines (CPP), while the MILF is the country’s largest remaining Muslim rebel group waging an insurgency in the south.

Military intelligence sources say the rebel groups have entered into a tactical alliance to wage terror campaigns in urban centres across the Philippines.

The police earlier said they were also looking at the possible involvement of the Abu Sayyaf Group, a Muslim extremist faction behind a kidnapping spree earlier this year.

Two Abu Sayyaf leaders were arrested here on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Philippines authorities have arrested a suspect for a series of deadly bomb blasts across Manila today, Defence Secretary Orlando Mercado said.

The police detained an unidentified suspect “in the makati area,” he said over DZMM radio, referring to the financial district where a policeman was killed while trying to disarm an explosive device wrapped in a Christmas package. Another policeman was seriously injured.