March 6, 2003, The Philippine Star, But Sayyaf claims responsibility for blast,

March 6, 2003, The Philippine Star, But Sayyaf claims responsibility for blast,

DAVAO CITY — The al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf group claimed responsibility yesterday for the bombing in this city that left at least 21 people dead, and warned that there would be more attacks. 

However, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and other government officials expressed doubt that the Abu Sayyaf was responsible. 

"We should not take that claim very seriously. They operate in another area," Reyes said after briefing President Arroyo, who flew here early yesterday to oversee the investigation of the bombing.

An Abu Sayyaf leader told ABS-CBN television yesterday that his group staged the bombing and regretted there were many casualties. He warned of more attacks to cripple the economy. 

The Abu Sayyaf, noted for its kidnappings and beheading of victims who fail to pay ransom, had been classified a terrorist group by Washington for its alleged links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. 

A regional terror group, the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which foreign governments say is the Southeast Asian chapter of the al-Qaeda, has also been accused of carrying out bombings in the region, including the Bali attack in October last year. 

Abu Sayyaf leader Hamsiraji Sali, alias Commander Jose Ramirez, reportedly owned up to the bombing in an interview with an ABS-CBN reporter. 

The Philippine government said it was not taking the Abu Sayyaf claim for the blast seriously, saying that Davao — the largest city and commercial capital of the southern Philippines — was not part of the group's terrain. 

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. said separately that five members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim separatist group, were being held in connection with the bombing. 

Lina dismissed the Abu Sayyaf claims as a diversionary tactic of the MILF. 

"That kind of report has to be processed by the investigating task force. It can be a simple diversionary tactic," he said. 

Reyes suspected that the MILF was merely using the Abu Sayyaf as a coverup. "The MILF is using the Abu Sayyaf to own up to it" to keep whatever respectability it has left, he said. 

Col. Bonifacio Ramos, Basilan military commander, said that based on their latest monitoring, Sali and a number of his followers have been on the run and are in hiding in the island province. 

"This guy is lying and he is just trying to ride on the propaganda," Ramos said, dismissing the Abu Sayyaf leader as a phony. 

Ranking police and military officials are also not too keen on taking "at face value" the bandit leader's words. 

"It will not be to the advantage of the MILF if they owned up to (Tuesday’s blast). Somebody or anybody had to admit it on their behalf," one official said. 

Information obtained by The STAR from a Muslim source who has direct access to the MILF leadership claimed that MILF chairman Hashim Salamat issued the directive after accusing the government of sponsoring his assassination in the guise of launching an all-out war in Buliok complex in Pikit, North Cotabato. 

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte also cautioned against jumping to conclusions based on a renegade's statement. "We don’t make any distinctions now. We know who they are, and this includes everyone," he said. 

It was the worst blast in Southeast Asia since the bomb attack on the Indonesian island of Bali on Oct. 12 last year that killed 202 people. 

The Davao attack came amid a backdrop of increased Muslim guerrilla activity in the region ahead of a planned deployment of US anti-terror troops. 

The MILF on Tuesday denied responsibility for the blast and said it was even prepared to be involved in any probe to identify the perpetrators of the crime. 

"They (five suspects) are identified as members of the MILF," Lina told reporters. "They are in the order of battle of the police and military." 

Lina said the five MILF members were part of a "network of bombers," apparently referring to a series of suspected MILF bomb blasts in the south after the military overran a MILF enclave last month. 

The military offensive on Buliok left almost 200 people dead, most of them MILF fighters. The suspected MILF bomb blasts after the military blitz toppled several electricity transmission towers and plunged much of the southern Philippines into darkness in recent weeks. 

The 12,500-strong MILF has been waging a 25-year campaign to set up an Islamic state in the south of mainly Roman Catholic Philippines. 

Reyes said investigators have achieved "some success" in tracking down the perpetrators of the airport bombing. 

An hour after the blast Tuesday, another bomb went off near a government health center in Tagum town just outside Davao, injuring three more people. 

Security officials in Manila said they were boosting security around oil depots, sea ports and other vital installations in the capital and other major cities. 

"We are bracing and attending for all possibilities," National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said. 

Among the dead from the airport attack was an American, the only foreign fatality so far in the blast believed to emanate from a bomb hidden in a knapsack at a packed waiting shed. 

Three other Americans were among the wounded in the airport attack, strongly condemned by US President George W. Bush and Mrs. Arroyo. 

The authorities have shut down Davao airport as a precaution. 

A shortage of hospital beds in Davao has forced doctors to treat the large number of wounded on tables and stretchers. — AFP, Jaime Laude, Edith Regalado, Roel Pareño, Bong Fabe