Cops tag JI, woman in Tacurong blast
An extortion attempt by the extremist Jema'ah Islamiyah (JI) was the motive behind the Kimsan mall bombing that wounded at least four people in Sultan Kudarat province in Mindanao on Thursday.
Central Mindanao regional police director Chief Supt. German Doria disclosed this Friday, adding that a janitor saw a woman assembling what appeared to be a homemade explosive inside the mall's comfort room.
"We are trying to connect this to an incident two weeks before Christmas. Malls like Kimsan Plaza and Fitmart received extortion letters demanding P50,000 in payment," Doria said in Filipino during an interview on dzBB radio.
He said the signatory of the letters claimed to be Abu Sulaiman of the Indonesia-based JI, and threatened to "blow up" the store if Kimsan owner Carlos Tan refused to pay up.
However, Doria said that while Fitmart reported the incident to police, Tan did not inform police about the extortion letter until Thursday's incident.
"We are not discounting that it is just an alias. If I were the extortionist I wouldn't sign my real name," he said when asked about the JI's involvement.
The Jema'ah Islamiyah had been linked to past bombings in Mindanao.
The Abu Sayyaf bandit group, who has been linked to the JI, had been blamed for the bombing of the Fitmart department store in April 2002.
As this developed, Doria also said a janitress had tagged a female as the Kimsan bomber.
Citing initial reports on the janitress' testimony, he said the woman assembled the homemade explosive in the ladies' room of the mall.
However, he said the janitress did not get a good look at the bomber because "she was busy cleaning the comfort room," except that the bomber appeared to tinker with a soft drink can.
Police said the homemade explosive may have been made up of gunpowder inside a soft drink can.
Doria has ordered the local provincial and city police to "carefully watch" people buying soft drinks in cans.
Meanwhile, Doria said the four persons injured in Thursday's blast have been declared out of danger, although bag boy Anthony Gunio was partially deaf because of the blast.
The other three, a mother and her two children, suffered only superficial wounds, Doria said.-GMANews.TV
Central Mindanao regional police director Chief Supt. German Doria disclosed this Friday, adding that a janitor saw a woman assembling what appeared to be a homemade explosive inside the mall's comfort room.
"We are trying to connect this to an incident two weeks before Christmas. Malls like Kimsan Plaza and Fitmart received extortion letters demanding P50,000 in payment," Doria said in Filipino during an interview on dzBB radio.
He said the signatory of the letters claimed to be Abu Sulaiman of the Indonesia-based JI, and threatened to "blow up" the store if Kimsan owner Carlos Tan refused to pay up.
However, Doria said that while Fitmart reported the incident to police, Tan did not inform police about the extortion letter until Thursday's incident.
"We are not discounting that it is just an alias. If I were the extortionist I wouldn't sign my real name," he said when asked about the JI's involvement.
The Jema'ah Islamiyah had been linked to past bombings in Mindanao.
The Abu Sayyaf bandit group, who has been linked to the JI, had been blamed for the bombing of the Fitmart department store in April 2002.
As this developed, Doria also said a janitress had tagged a female as the Kimsan bomber.
Citing initial reports on the janitress' testimony, he said the woman assembled the homemade explosive in the ladies' room of the mall.
However, he said the janitress did not get a good look at the bomber because "she was busy cleaning the comfort room," except that the bomber appeared to tinker with a soft drink can.
Police said the homemade explosive may have been made up of gunpowder inside a soft drink can.
Doria has ordered the local provincial and city police to "carefully watch" people buying soft drinks in cans.
Meanwhile, Doria said the four persons injured in Thursday's blast have been declared out of danger, although bag boy Anthony Gunio was partially deaf because of the blast.
The other three, a mother and her two children, suffered only superficial wounds, Doria said.-GMANews.TV
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