Sayyaf bombs 3 hotels in Zamboanga

Abu Sayyaf bandits bombed three hotels in Zamboanga City before dawn yesterday, causing damage but no injuries, military officials said.

The first bomb went off inside the Paradise Hotel at 3:30 a.m. followed by another at the Imperial Hotel about 30 minutes later. The explosions tore off part of the ceiling of a room at the Imperial Hotel and scoured the wall of another at the Paradise Hotel. Both rooms were unoccupied.

A guard later discovered another explosive hanging from an electric post outside the Platinum Hotel and placed it in the middle of the road, where it went off. An unexploded fourth bomb, hidden in a box, was recovered also from the Imperial Hotel.

The explosions at the hotels damaged windows and walls but caused no injuries as most guests were asleep in their rooms, said Col. Alexander Yano, head of the anti-terrorism task force in the city.

"No one was hurt and there was no major damage. The area has been contained," Yano said.

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the attacks were the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf, an extremist group believed to have links to Saudi militant Osama bin Laden.

The blasts occurred about four hours after the US and Britain launched air strikes on Afghanistan.Asked if the attacks were related to the retaliatory air strikes, Golez said: "There is a possibility that these could be diversionary tactics."

He said the Abu Sayyaf wanted to ease military pressure on a group still holding 18 hostages in Basilan. Fifteen Abu Sayyaf fighters were killed Sunday in a fierce firefight with the military in Lantawan, Basilan.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said President Arroyo still ordered the military to keep "a high level of alert" in Mindanao following the hotel bombings.

Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon condemned the bombing of the budget hotels, calling the attack "the last hurrah of the fading terrorist threat in Basilan and Sulu."

Gordon said he believes the military’s timetable of finishing off the Abu Sayyaf by November is realistic.

"I am optimistic that with the destruction of the Abu Sayyaf, the country’s tourism industry will experience a rebound in a month or two," he said.

Security in Zamboanga City, already tightened because of the recent clashes, was further strengthened yesterday with police conducting random street searches at checkpoints.

Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, chief of the Southern Command, ordered air strikes on suspected Abu Sayyaf positions yesterday in Basilan and Sulu, ratcheting up military operations that were launched in June after the bandits went on a kidnapping spree.

"I ordered the Air Force to bomb their lairs in Sulu province," Cimatu said during a visit to Lantawan. "Air strikes are already underway in Basilan."

Several OV-10 ground attack planes and MG-520 helicopter gunships were seen circling the island of Basilan yesterday morning.

Cimatu said additional Marine and Navy Special Warfare units were also deployed in Basilan and Sulu to augment the 5,000 troops already in the area. – Jaime Laude, Marichu Villanueva, Roel Pareño