Basilan blast kills 7, hurts 5

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao - A bomb explosion in Sumisip town in Basilan on the eve of New Year’s Day killed seven villagers and injured five others, police said.

Five of the fatalities, Rey Limbin, Elbert Gomoba, Kitarul Kaddik, Leniebel Cisneros and Lourdes Ablong died on the spot, while two others, Badjon Gumuba and Therese Claire Alegarbes, died while being rushed to a hospital in Zamboanga City.

Initial reports reaching the regional headquarters of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police said the victims were drinking inside the yard of a Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit active auxiliary member Manuel Cisneros in Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip when a bomb, placed inside a bag and left underneath a vacant chair, went off, killing five merry-makers on the spot.

The victims were among the cooperative plantation workers in the village, where the Abu Sayyaf group have been staging attacks and extort.

Barangay Tumahubong is only about 10 kilometers away from Sumisip’s Buli-Buli District, home of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.

The victims injured in the blast are now undergoing medication at the Zamboanga City Medical Center, said Juni Ilimin, assistant secretary for ARMM’s local government department.

Ilimin, who, along with ARMM Regional Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia, is now attending to the needs of the patients, said police investigators are still trying to determine who could be responsible for the bombing, and the real motive for the attack.

Barangay Tumahubong is a politically hostile barangay, where residents are trapped in deep-seated squabbles among local armed factions and officials of a cooperative overseeing the operations of a 4,000-hectare rubber plantation in the area, which was established in the 1960s multinational American tire manufacturer BF Goodrich.

Barangay officials in Tumahubong said there were indications that the lone bomber responsible for the attack was known to the victims.

“...[T]he suspect, who arrived carrying the bag containing the improvised explosive, was even served with food by some of the victims. The bomb exploded after the suspect had left,” a source, who asked not to be identified, told The Star via mobile phone.

Ilimin said the executive department of ARMM is grateful to military units in Basilan for helping work out the airlift to Zamboanga City of the victims using Air Force helicopters.

Ilimin said the health secretary of ARMM, physician Kadil Sinolinding, Jr., already tasked health officials in the island province of Basilan to attend to the needs of the patients. (with a report from Roel Pareño)