Politics not likely cause of bombing Akbar “betrayal” of Sayyaf eyed

Basilan congressman Wahab Akbar, who was one of those killed in last Tuesday’s bomb attack on the Batasan complex in Quezon City, was the sole target of the blast that killed four and injured at least 12 others, PNP chief Avelino Razon Jr. yesterday said.

On the other hand, Razon said, there is no evidence to suggest party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan was the real target of the attack, despite her insistence that she was. Ilagan was wounded in the attack, along with Rep. Henry Teves.

Razon said the information that Akbar was the sole target of the attack surfaced in the ongoing police investigation of three suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists captured in a raid in Quezon City.

They are providing investigators vital information on the deadly explosion at the Batasan complex, bolstering the theory that the blast was a plot to kill Akbar, Razon said without elaborating on what the information was.

“ We have taken information from them. They have been very cooperative in our investigation, “ Razon said on DZRH radio.

Razon said police investigators are now piecing together the statements, and matching them with the physical evidence gathered from the House of Representative south wing entrance where the explosion occurred.

The three suspected Abu Sayyaf members — Khaidar Awnal, Ikram Indama and Adham Kusain — were captured following a shootout Thursday at a Quezon City residential area. Three other alleged Abu Sayyaf members were killed in the incident.

In another radio interview, Razon said investigators have so far not gathered any evidence to bolster the claim of Ilagan that she was the target owing to her support of a bid to impeach President Arroyo.

“ We have so far not found any basis to bolster Ilagan’s assertion, “ Razon said on DZBB radio.

Earlier, Batasan security guards identified two of the three captured Abu Sayyaf suspects — Indama and Kusain — as having been seen in the area the night of the blast. Indama was a former driver of former Basilan congressman Gerry Salapuddin, who has come out to deny any involvement in the attack.

One of the wives of Akbar defeated Salapuddin for governor of Basilan in the May elections.

Razon himself said Salapuddin was not a suspect in the bombing.

Salapuddin, on the other hand, suggested that some Abu Sayyaf terrorists “ may have deep-seated anger and hatred “ toward Akbar for helping establish the group and then betraying it.

But in a speech while still alive two months ago, Akbar denied any link to the Abu Sayyaf, calling the allegation “ a lie told a thousand times “ by the military, the police, and his political enemies. He admitted, though, having met with Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Janjalani while they were in Libya and again back home in the Philippines.

Janjalani, who was killed in 1998, did not appeal to Akbar, who said the behavior of Janjalani “ was not acceptable to my taste. “

As governor of Basilan in 2002, Akbar welcomed U.S. troops who trained Filipino soldiers in battling the Abu Sayyaf. Over the years, the island was gradually transformed from being a militant hotbed into a showcase of counterterrorism success and humanitarian development.

Murder charges are now being prepared for filing against the three suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists, “ the least guilty “of whom could end up being a state witness, Razon said.

Senior Superintendent Asher Dolina, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group for Metro Manila, said the

three men would be charged with multiple murder. ( AP, ABS-CBN/JST )