Seven hurt in bomb blast at Cotabato radio station

COTABATO CITY -- Seven people were seriously wounded when a homemade bomb exploded outside a Roman Catholic radio station here Sunday night.

The explosion at the gates of the dxMS station occurred at about 7:30 p.m. just minutes before the start of a regular broadcast by an announcer who has blamed Muslim separatists for a ferry bombing late Friday that killed at least 45 people.

Teng Kudong and Long Acob, two armed bodyguards of broadcaster Zamzamin "Zam" Ampatuan, were wounded in the blast along with Arjil Orgabito, security guard of the station, and a certain Connie Borlaza and Virgie Facultad and two unidentified passersby.

The explosion also destroyed Ampatuan's Mitsubishi L-300 van.

The station, which is owned by the French-based Oblates of Mary Immaculate and considered as this city's leading broadcasting company, did not sustain any damage.

Bomb experts said the explosive was a mortar shell rigged to an electronic timing device, the same type believed used in bombings of several buses on board a ferry at the Ozamis City port last Friday.

The two bus bombings have been blamed by the military on the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the communist New People's Army (NPA).

The military said it has evidence that MILF leader Hashim Salamat and Jose Maria Sison, head of the communist National Democratic Front who is in exile in the Netherlands, had conspired to mount coordinated attacks on buses in Mindanao.

"They were responsible for Friday's attacks," said Maj. Gerard Velez, a military spokesman, who noted that the Armed Forces will file charges in Ozamis against the two within the week. "We have already gathered the testimonies of our witnesses and documentary evidence," he said.

Meanwhile, Ampatuan, an engineer by profession and a former staffmember of the International Labor Organization, blamed the attack on the radio station on the MILF.

"This is the handiwork of the MILF. They have been after my head since last year," he said, adding that he would not cease his condemnation of the separatist rebels.

A Muslim who belongs to a powerful political clan here, Ampatuan said he had been sentenced to death by the MILF revolutionary courts which reportedly issued standing orders for rebels to shoot him on sight.

The MILF, meanwhile, denied any involvement in the attacks.

"Every bombing here is being blamed on the MILF. We don't even have a presence in Ozamis," said MILF spokesman Mohaqer Iqbal over dxMS.

The bomb attacks occurred on the second day of President Estrada's visit to Mindanao. And Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile believes more attacks are coming.

The President flew to the island of Sulu, a Muslim rebel stronghold, amid heavy military guard around noon yesterday to open a regional sports competition.

In Manila, Enrile said the MILF will soon launch a Mindanao-wide offensive aimed at Christian villages and centers, particularly the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. "This is just the beginning," he said.

Quoting "very reliable sources," Enrile said the MILF offensive will start as soon as MILF military affairs chief Al Haj Murad returns from the Middle East with a cache of high-powered firearms.

He added that the MILF has already secured major highways in Lanao del Sur and residents of the province, including women and children, are now heavily armed in preparation for war.

In other developments, the President is not likely to place Mindanao under a state of emergency in the wake of the bombings, Presidential Spokesman Fernando Barican said.

"These kinds of incidents can take place around the world and the best defense against them is for society to function normally," he said. "The only thing we have to do is to catch the people responsible and take preventive measures."

Barican explained that security in bus terminals, along national highways and in establishments likely to be attacked have been tightened to prevent further acts of terrorism.

He said declaring a state of emergency in Mindanao is what terrorists want, "to create an image of further destabilization and uncertainty."

"New York or London wasn't put under emergency because of the bombing at the World Trade Center or the financial district of Britain over a series of months," he said. "To place part of the country under emergency (is) precisely what some terrorists would want."

On the MILF side, the group's military chief Al Haj Murad denied that he had gone abroad to procure arms for their fighters.

"These are all lies and concoctions of the military," he said, adding that he left the country to be treated for an illness and go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the Muslim's holy land. "I did not buy weapons abroad for our fighters. We still have enough."

The MILF has been waging a campaign for a separate Muslim state in Mindanao for the last 21 years. It is presently negotiating peace with the government, although the negotiations have been stalled by renewed hostilities between its guerrillas and government forces.

The talks are expected to resume tomorrow. -- With Edith Regalado, Mike Frialde, Perseus Echeminada, Marichu Villanueva, AFP wires