|
POWERFUL BLAST: Police examine the damaged entrance of House of Representatives complex. The attack was the first in the Congress' history. -- PHOTO: AP
|
MANILA - AN EXPLOSION at the lobby of the Philippine Congress building last night killed two people, including a lawmaker, and wounded at least nine others.
The dead legislator, Wahab Akbar, a representative for the southern island of Basilan - a hotbed of militant activity - was the apparent target of the powerful blast, Manila police chief Geary Barias told local radio.
Mr Akbar, a former governor of southern Basilan province, had been targeted by the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group in the past for launching offensives against them.
The other victim, who was sitting in a parked van, was the driver of another congressman.
The blast sent police and soldiers in the already jittery capital on high alert. An explosion in a shopping mall a few weeks ago, which killed 11 people and injured dozens, had sparked security fears.
Security forces set up checkpoints around Manila as President Gloria Arroyo ordered a national police probe into the explosion at the Congress building, located north of the capital.
Two other congressmen were hurt, one critically, in the blast, which went off at around 8pm, just when legislators were leaving after the day's session.
It destroyed a large section of the ceiling of the south entrance of the lower House of Representatives complex.
House Speaker Jose de Venecia, who left the complex a few minutes before the blast, told reporters that he believed the attack was the work of a 'terrorist or anarchist' who wanted to destabilise Congress and the government.
He called the explosion a 'criminal and dastardly act'.
The New York Times, meanwhile, quoted Mr Barias as saying that the attack was 'coordinated', and that the bomb may have been remotely detonated.
The attack on the Congress was the first such incident in its history.
Mr Akbar, 47, was once a member of the Moro National Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group that dropped its secessionist goal and signed a peace accord with the government in September 1996.
Some security officials have suspected that he knew the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf, which has its roots on Basilan island. But they said he later had a falling out with Abu Sayyaf commanders and started fighting them.
Meanwhile, Mr de Venecia vowed defiance, and said Congress would resume sitting this afternoon.
'I want to show to our people that we are not frightened by these anarchists or terrorists,' he said.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS AND AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
amcindoe@yahoo.com
|
