Asia-Pacific

Terrorism may lead to bus blast in Manila

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-01-26 15:32

MANILA - Philippine Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said Wednesday that terrorism and destabilization may have led to the Tuesday's bus bombing that left five people dead and injured 13 others.

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"There are several possible motives behind the bombing. This could be a terrorist attack, or a destabilization (plot)," Robredo told reporters.

Robredo said terrorists may be behind the bombing as police investigation showed that the explosive used was an 81mm mortar with a triggering device. The same device that was used in terrorist attacks in Mindanao, southern Philippines.

He added it's also possible that crime syndicates used the bombing as a diversionary tactic.

Robredo explained that the government has been hitting hard on catnapping incidents in the past few weeks, and this could be a ploy to temporarily divert the attention of the public and the authorities on said incidents.

But Robredo stressed that it's still too early to identify the real motive of the bombing incident. He also assured the public that the government is doing its best to get to the bottom of the bombing incident.

"I suggest that we just cooperate with the authorities and follow the regular patterns that we have been doing," he said.

In a separate briefing, Brig Gen. Jose Mabanta, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said they're helping the local police with its investigation.

Mabanta said the military is looking at some groups who may be behind the bombing but he declined to name them.

"We have some suspects and we would not really want to venture on identifying them," he said, adding that they'll only do so after the police concluded its investigation.