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AT least eight persons were killed and 129 others injured when a
huge bomb ripped through an upscale shopping mall in the financial
district of Makati on Friday afternoon, the Philippine National
Police (PNP) said.
“This was a bomb,” PNP Director General
Avelino Razon said. “But beyond that we can’t say anything else
yet because we are still investigating.”
As of press time, no group has claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Razon earlier ruled out a gas leak as the cause
of the explosion at Glorietta 2, near the intersection of Makati
Avenue and Pasay Road.
Director Geary Barias, Metro Manila police
chief, for his part, said he was not discounting that the blast was
a terrorist attack.
Barias added they are still determining the
”real cause” of the explosion.
The blast occurred about 1:30 p.m. inside the
jam-packed Luk Yuen restaurant at Glorietta 2, he said.
“There may be more people inside [the building
occupied by the restaurant],” Barias told reporters.
Bomb debris carpeted a 200-square-meter area, he
said.
“The ceilings are damaged and may collapse,”
Barias added.
Panicked noontime shoppers ran out of the mall
as smoke billowed out of the building and police rushed in to
investigate, witnesses said.
Barias added initial investigation had shown
that the blast was caused by a “leaking” liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG) tank.
The explosion came while police were tightening
security measures in Metro Manila to thwart terror attacks.
Makati City Councilor JunJun Binay said the
explosion left an eight-meter wide crater on the ground floor and
blew a hole through the roof on the second floor.
“From what I have seen, it was a significant
explosion and that most of the dead and injured were all
employees,” Binay added.
The witnesses said part of a ceiling collapsed,
while a concrete wall was blown out.
Two cars and two delivery vans were buried under
wooden planks and concrete debris outside the mall.
“It was so powerful,” clothing store clerk
Jeric Balendes told Agence France-Presse on the scene, as rescuers
treated his cuts and bruises.
“The roof just collapsed on us. I could hear
my three co-workers screaming. I got out through a small hole. I
don’t know if they got out.”
Bomb squad teams sifted through the debris
looking for clues, while extra police were drafted in to divert
traffic and seal off the surrounding area—one of the busiest
shopping districts of Metro Manila.
The bodies of three of the dead lay covered in
blankets on the floor of an adjacent car park being used as an
emergency medical assessment area.
Among the fatalities who died instantly were
identified as Jose Alma de Jesus, Edwin Enriquez, Liza Enriquez and
Janine Marcos.
“There was a sudden explosion,” said
Christine Calope, one of the injured. “I don’t know if it was
inside or outside the mall.”
The witnesses said the blast occurred in a
section of the mall with clusters of shops selling baby clothes and
toys.
Barias said police had not received any threats
about an attack.
Police did not immediately name likely suspects
for the attack, but Islamic militants were blamed for a bomb on a
bus near the Glorietta 2 mall that killed four persons in February
2005.
Muslim militants also firebombed a ferry on
Manila Bay the previous year, killing more than 100 persons in the
country’s worst terrorist attack.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales
previously said the government was not ruling out future attacks on
“soft” targets such as shopping malls.
--Anthony Vargas With AFP
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