ARMM condemns 'diabolic' bombing in Zamboanga

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The inter-agency regional peace and order council of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Saturday branded as “diabolic” Friday’s bombing in Zamboanga City that killed a resident and injured more than 30 others.

The presiding chair of the multi-sectoral council, ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, said the bombing was a direct affront to the Mindanao peace process, which aims to foster lasting peace and progress in Muslim, Christian and lumad enclaves in the country’s south.

“That was a diabolic act, `anti-people' and so condemnable,” Hataman said in a text message to reporters.

The bombers used a car laden with explosives which they set off while parked near a commercial spot in the outskirts of Zamboanga City.

“We care for Zamboanga City and its people because it is the main bridge connecting mainland Mindanao to the ARMM’s Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi island provinces,” Hataman said.

Hataman said he has directed the ARMM regional police office in Parang town in Maguindanao to help investigate on the incident.

The detonation of a car bomb last Friday in Zamboanga City was Mindanao’s fifth since 2003.

More than 20 were killed while dozens were injured as bombers blasted vehicles packed with explosives from a distance, using improvised remote-controlled blasting contraptions, at the Awang Airport in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao in February 2003, in Shariff Aguak town in the same province in June 2005, along a busy stretch of a highway in Tacurong City in August 2011 and along Sinsuat Avenue in Cotabato City in August 2013.

Hataman said the ARMM police has imposed tighter security measures meant to prevent bombings in the region’s five component provinces.