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The Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the
Philippines have ordered their troops in Zamboanga City to
“strengthen” security measures following a powerful bomb
explosion outside an Air Force base in the city that killed two
people and wounded several others Thursday.
Defense Chief Gilverto Teodoro Jr. and AFP chief
of staff Lieutenant General Alexander Yano presided over a meeting
of the Zamboanga City peace and order council hours after the blast.
This developed as Colonel Darwin Guerra, chief
of the military’s Task Force Zamboanga, in an interview, declared
that the bomb explosion was an “isolated” incident but hinted,
“This is an act of terrorism.”
“The city remains safe and secure,” Guerra
said.
“It’s hard to say that this is a handiwork
of al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf. We need to give leeway to the
investigation.”
PNP Chief, Director General Avelino Razon Jr.
who is attending the 28th Asean Chiefs of Police Conference in
Brunei Darussalam, has ordered Police Regional Office 9, Chief
Police Director Jaime Caringal to mobilize the police intelligence
community in coordination with the military units in the region to
identify and arrest those responsible for the explosion.
In a statement, Razon noted all incident
management measures are being implemented, especially the evacuation
and medical attention of victims.
He ordered Caringal to initiate preemptive
actions through checkpoints and mobile patrol operations to
complement the efforts of the intelligence community in identifying
the perpetrators.
Checkpoints were put-up along the east and west
coastlines of Zamboanga City that led to the recovery of a white
private van with license plates WAC-707 in Barangay Ayala barely an
hour after the explosion. The van’s body bore shrapnel holes
leading investigators to believe that the suspects used it.
Police has invited for questioning the
registered owner of the van, retired Police Officer 2 Abdurasul
Adjie Sabban.
Caringal reported that Post-Blast Investigation
is underway for a careful examination of the scene of explosion to
determine peculiar characteristics of the IED that may lead
investigators to identifying the authors of the explosion.
“Only after we determine the signature of the
IED can we establish the motive for the bombing, and possibly
identify the perpetrators,” Caringal said.
-- Maricel V. Cruz
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