Bombing at Zamboanga City airport

Two persons including a suspected bomber were killed and twenty two others wounded in a bombing Thursday evening outside the arrival area of Zamboanga International Airport in Mindanao.

2 people killed, 22 others injured

Suspected bomber blew himself

At least five people including a suspected bomber were killed and 22 others injured when a bomb exploded outside the arrival area of the Zamboanga City International Airport on Thursday evening.

Mayor Celso Lobregat told local reporters the explosion occurred at about 6:15 p.m. outside the city airport's arrival area.

"It appears that the person holding the explosive device (was the bomber). We can not determine yet what the explosive device used in the attack. The body (suspected bomber) was mangled," he said.

The mayor said one of those injured victims was Sulu Governor Sakur Tan who was among the passengers of a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila that landed in Zamboanga at 6:10 p.m.

"I was able to talk with Governor Sakur Tan of Sulu...he went inside the arrival area. He was there with his son (Mayor Tan)...the governor had a slight wound because he was outside the airport when the incident happened," he said.

Governor Tan was one of the passengers going out of the airport when the bomb exploded.

When asked if the bomb was intended for the Sulu governor, Lobregat replied. "He (Governor Tan) told me that the bomb was intended for him. He thinks so."

According to Mayor Lobregat, the Sulu governor told him that the bomb exploded a few feet away from him. "In fact, he showed me his shirt was full of blood stains and the t-shirt of his son Mayor Tan was also full of blood stain."

Tan's spokesman, Sonny Abing, said the governor suffered a scratch at the right abdomen, but the injury did not require Tan to be confined at the hospital. As of posting, Tan was in his residence in Zamboanga City near the airport.

Mayor Lobregat considered the bomb attack as a terrorist act, saying that "definitely, this is a terrorist act. How else can you describe it? This is an act of terrorist."

Also asked whether the attack was a suicide attack, he said the person who carried the bomb could have exploded prematurely or it could have been that the person did not know that he was carrying the bomb and somebody had a triggering device.

The mayor confirmed that one of the injured blast victims is a British national. "He is in the operating room. He is 69 years old I think he was just waiting a passenger."

Lobregat also said that US ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas canceled his trip to Zamboanga City due to the bombing incident at the airport.

"I was just informed by General Dolorfino that the trip or visit of the US ambassador has been cancelled definitely because of the incident."

Thomas was scheduled to fly to Zamboanga on Friday to inspect local projects funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The US military has had about 500 soldiers stationed in the southern Philippines since early 2002 to train local troops in how to combat Al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf militants.

Mayor Lobregat convened the city's Crisis Management Committee to assess the situation. He said the measures they adopted to address the incident include a much higher police and military visibility.

"We have also raised the level of alertness. We have asked augmentation of troops both from the regional police and the military’s WesMinCom. The police and military top officials here assured that they will put all the possible resources that they can put to secure the City of Zamboanga," Lobregat said.