ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 3, 2012) – An improvised bomb planted outside a store in Jolo town in the southern Filipino province of Sulu exploded Saturday night and killing two civilians and wounding as many as 8 people, officials said.
Officials said the bomb exploded in front of the Cleopatra Commercial Store in downtown Jolo shortly before 7 p.m. The improvised explosive was placed near the store’s power generator set.
“Initially two civilians are killed and eight others are seriously injured. The perpetrators and motive of the attack are still unknown. There is an investigation going on,” Army Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, told the Mindanao Examiner.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group with links to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya had been previously blamed for extortion activities and past bombings in Sulu.
The town’s mayor Hussin Amin did not give any statement about the blast. (Mindanao Examiner)
20