Sayyaf rebels bomb Tawi-Tawi church

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Suspected Muslim guerrillas bombed a Roman Catholic church on the remote island of Tawi-Tawi, damaging a stonewall but causing no casualties, police said yesterday.

Two bombs exploded shortly after midnight Wednesday against the wall of the cathedral in Barangay Lower Pagasa, Bongao town, said Jilnani Nani, police chief of the largely Muslim province.

Two persons were reportedly wounded in the blast.

Nani said the attack could be the work of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group, a small rebel force known for a series of bloody attacks on Christians and the kidnapping of foreigners, Christians and ethnic Chinese.

The Abu Sayyaf gained international notoriety last year when they kidnapped dozens of foreign and local hostages from a Malaysian resort and kept them on Jolo island, near Tawi-Tawi. Most of the hostages were later ransomed off. — Roel Pareño