From AP,
A bomb exploded during Christmas Day Mass at a chapel inside a police camp in the volatile southern Philippines, wounding a priest and 10 churchgoers.
The device was hidden in a ventilation window near the ceiling of the chapel, which is on the compound where the provincial police office is located in Jolo town on Jolo Island, Sulu provincial police said.
The island is a stronghold of al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants, but it wasn't clear who was responsible for the bombing. Investigators recovered parts of a cell phone they believe detonated the device
[The Rev. Romeo Villanueva, 72, said] "I was reading the Gospel. I was not yet finished when there was a loud explosion,"
A bombing at the main Jolo cathedral last year killed two churchgoers, and the cathedral has been attacked in the past with grenades. The Abu Sayyaf, notorious for high-profile kidnappings and beheadings, has been blamed for those attacks.
From AFP 1,
"The explosion occurred at around 7:15 in the morning while the mass was going on. Six people were slightly wounded in the explosion," military spokesman Lieutenant Randolph Cabangbang said.
It [Abu Sayyaf] is believed to have carried out the worst terror attacks in Philippine history including the bombing of a passenger ferry in Manila Bay that killed more than 100 people in 2004.
It has also kidnapped many foreigners and Filipino Christians, hiding them in the jungles of Jolo and other southern islands.
UPDATE: From AFP 2,
President Benigno Aquino said Monday that investigators had identified a suspect and a possible "terror plot" in the Christmas day bombing of a church in the southern Philippines.
"There is a suspect that has been named. The modus operandi... is similar to various other incidents and an (intelligence) report of a new terror campaign especially in that part of the country," Aquino told reporters.
Source: AFP (1, 2) , AP
Comments: Probably just another Christmas terror attack by Muslim terrorists.
The fact that the church was in the same building as the police station raises some suspicision as to whether some of the police might be members of, or linked to Muslim terrorists.
In nothern Nigeria, where Muslims are the majority, some police are suspected of being members of the Boko Haram terrorists and helping them.
Some previous similar or related stories:
Muslim 'Christmas is evil' dawa poster in London, and website says it's pagan, sex, abortion, blasphemy, 'claiming God has a son', drugs, alcohol and violence and that Islam is better [Muslim extremists think that Christmas is evil so it would be no surprise if they bomb Christmas celebrations]
Nigerian police chief says some police may be Boko Haram Islamic terrorist members tipping off police movements resulting in failure so far to stop them [Don't trust the police]
Two kidnapped Malaysians freed in Philippines after apparently being abandoned as their captors with ties to al-Qaida linked Abu Sayyaf flee pursuing police commandos
For similar or related stories posted after this article (if any), copy the title of this article and paste it in the search box on top of the page and click search or click on the 'Lables' below.
Showing posts with label Philippines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philippines. Show all posts
Monday, December 27, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Two kidnapped Malaysians freed in Philippines after apparently being abandoned as their captors with ties to al-Qaida linked Abu Sayyaf flee pursuing police commandos
From AP
Filipino gunmen with ties to al-Qaida-linked militants, under pressure from pursuing police commandos, have freed [abandoned, apparently getting any ransom] two Malaysian laborers [Chen Yui Chung, 48, and Lai Wong Chun, 46,] from 10 months of jungle captivity, police said Wednesday.
The hostages were seized Feb. 8 from a seaweed farm in Malaysia's Sabah state and whisked away in a speedboat to nearby Philippine waters in a pattern similar to past kidnappings-for-ransom blamed on the notorious terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf has gained notoriety for high-profile kidnappings, beheadings and bomb attacks. Battle setbacks, arrests and surrenders have reduced the group's strength to more than 300 from more than 1,000 guerrillas during its heyday in 2000, the military says.
That year the militants abducted 21 Asian workers and Western tourists from Malaysia's Sipadan diving resort and brought them to Jolo. They were freed in batches in exchange for huge ransoms.
Philippine Daily Inquirer 1
The kidnappers, sometimes numbering eight, other times 10, looked to a man named “Ahmad” as their leader, he said. Most of them spoke Tausug, said Lai, but a few could speak to the captives in Malay.
Philippine Daily Inquirer 2
[The Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz said] the bandits were “reportedly composed of Malaysian and some Tausug-speaking suspects” and have ties with local terror group the Abu Sayyaf.
Source: AP, Philippine Daily Inquirer (1,2)
Comments: The usual Muslims kidnapping for ransom, just like the Somali pirates and elsewhere. It's a global problem.
Some previous similar or related stories:
Still no sign of Somali Christian convert girl kidnapped by al Shabaab [Kidnapped for converting to Christianity]
Somali pirates get a record US 9 million dollars in ransom for oil tanker Samho Dream, and are getting more violent [Piracy, kidnap and demand for ransom]
Al-Qaeda in North Africa (AQIM), shopping for weapons with kidnap ransom money [Kidnappings for ransom to fund terror]
Update: Linda Norgrove killed by grenade thrown by rescuers during rescue attempt in Afghanistan [It's the kidnappers' fault that she died.]
For similar or related stories posted after this article (if any), copy the title of this article and paste it in the search box on top of the page and click search or click on the 'Lables' below.
Filipino gunmen with ties to al-Qaida-linked militants, under pressure from pursuing police commandos, have freed [abandoned, apparently getting any ransom] two Malaysian laborers [Chen Yui Chung, 48, and Lai Wong Chun, 46,] from 10 months of jungle captivity, police said Wednesday.
The hostages were seized Feb. 8 from a seaweed farm in Malaysia's Sabah state and whisked away in a speedboat to nearby Philippine waters in a pattern similar to past kidnappings-for-ransom blamed on the notorious terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf has gained notoriety for high-profile kidnappings, beheadings and bomb attacks. Battle setbacks, arrests and surrenders have reduced the group's strength to more than 300 from more than 1,000 guerrillas during its heyday in 2000, the military says.
That year the militants abducted 21 Asian workers and Western tourists from Malaysia's Sipadan diving resort and brought them to Jolo. They were freed in batches in exchange for huge ransoms.
Philippine Daily Inquirer 1
The kidnappers, sometimes numbering eight, other times 10, looked to a man named “Ahmad” as their leader, he said. Most of them spoke Tausug, said Lai, but a few could speak to the captives in Malay.
Philippine Daily Inquirer 2
[The Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz said] the bandits were “reportedly composed of Malaysian and some Tausug-speaking suspects” and have ties with local terror group the Abu Sayyaf.
Source: AP, Philippine Daily Inquirer (1,2)
Comments: The usual Muslims kidnapping for ransom, just like the Somali pirates and elsewhere. It's a global problem.
Some previous similar or related stories:
Still no sign of Somali Christian convert girl kidnapped by al Shabaab [Kidnapped for converting to Christianity]
Somali pirates get a record US 9 million dollars in ransom for oil tanker Samho Dream, and are getting more violent [Piracy, kidnap and demand for ransom]
Al-Qaeda in North Africa (AQIM), shopping for weapons with kidnap ransom money [Kidnappings for ransom to fund terror]
Update: Linda Norgrove killed by grenade thrown by rescuers during rescue attempt in Afghanistan [It's the kidnappers' fault that she died.]
For similar or related stories posted after this article (if any), copy the title of this article and paste it in the search box on top of the page and click search or click on the 'Lables' below.
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