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14 died in Manila bomb explosions
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FOURTEEN persons were killed while more than 70 others were wounded in five bomb explosions that rocked Metro Manila on Saturday, and President Joseph Estrada condemned the bombings and vowed to hunt down the culprits.
The biggest explosion occurred at the Light Railway Transit (LRT) station at Bluementritt in Manila where 11 people were killed and 56 others injured.
Police said another explosion went off at the plaza standing on the streets in front of the United States Embassy in Manila, where nine persons were wounded.
Another explosion reportedly hit a passenger bus and a jeep, in Quezon City, injuring 13 people, while the bomb at the Manila International Airport exploded near a gasoline tank.
A police bomb expert died as a bomb exploded while he was trying to disarm the explosive found in five-star Dusit Hotel in Makati city, the financial centre in Manila.
The explosions took place a day after the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced the capture of two Abu Sayyaf members whose alleged mission was to sow terror in Metro Manila during the Christmas holiday.
Security forces rushed to the scene but no suspects were arrested so far. Most of the casualties were rushed to the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital and the Chinese General Hospital.
On Friday, police said they arrested two leaders of the Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf, one of whom was said to be the youngest brother of Kadaffi Janjalani, chief of the Abu Sayyaf who was killed by police in the late 1990s.
Philippine President Joseph Estrada condemned the bombings and promised to exhaust all efforts to hunt down the culprits.
"Once and for all, I want to assure our people that my administration can not tolerate such barbaric acts," Estrada said in a statement broadcast on local radio and TV stations.
"These acts can be done only by people without any sense of humanity. Those behind the acts are cowardly and desperate, and only want to promote their political agenda at the expense of the lives of their fellow Filipinos," he said.
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