Update: RoP Attack in Philippines
Charles Johnson
Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 9:29 am PST • Views: 429
The bombing earlier today in the Philippines that killed two people at the Philippine Congress was apparently a hit job against a Muslim Congressman who has been a foe of Abu Sayyaf.
MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine congressman who had been targeted by Muslim militants was among two people killed late Tuesday when a bomb exploded at an entrance of the Philippine House of Representatives, police said.
Rep. Wahab Akbar’s chief of staff said the congressman, a former member of a Muslim rebel group that signed a peace accord with the government in 1996, died at the hospital. Metropolitan Manila police chief Geary Barias said a lawmaker’s driver also was killed in the explosion, which went off as the House ended its session. Eight people were injured.
Investigators suspect the bomb may have been placed on one of two parked motorcycles then remotely detonated as Akbar approached his car, fatally wounding him and ripping the motorcycles apart, Barias said.
“It looks like Congressman Akbar was the target,” Barias said. Police and soldiers in the capital went on high alert.
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.
Frank says: