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ZAMBOANGA CITY: Muslim rebels negotiating peace with the government
strongly denied Friday police allegations they were behind deadly
bomb attack in the city on Thursday.
Three people were killed and more than a dozen
others injured in Thursday blast just outside the Philippine Air
Force base. Regional police chief Jaime Caringal blamed the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, which is fighting for independence, as
behind the attack, an accusation denied by the country’s largest
Muslim rebel group.
“We have nothing to do with the attack. This
could be the handiwork of anti-government groups or even people in
the government to paint a scenario of chaos and terror and then put
the blame on the MILF.”
“Our conscience is clean. We have condemned
the attack and we are asking for a thorough investigation of the
bombing. There could be some groups out to derail the peace talks
between the MILF and the Arroyo government,” Eid Kabalu, a rebel
spokesman, told The Manila Times.
The local police are still investigating the
attack, but radio reports had quoted unnamed officials as saying
that the Abu Sayyaf could be involved in the bombing. Police said
the bomb was left outside the building that houses a military mutual
fund and an office of the US Agency for International Development.
Khaled Musa, a senior MILF leader, also
criticized Caringal for linking the rebel group to the bombing.
“This is a serious allegation against the MILF. This is an
irresponsible statement. The MILF is a partner of the government in
the search for genuine peace in Mindanao,” he said.
Caringal also blamed the MILF for two bombings
last month in Zamboanga City.
Peace talks were stalled since last year after
Manila rejected MILF demands for ancestral lands for more than four
million Muslims in the southern Philippines. The MILF said
government peace negotiators reneged on a previous deal that will
grant Muslims their ancestral domain that would constitute a
separate homeland.
-- Al Jacinto
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