Updated: Aug 12, 2011 22:21
MANILA: Authorities say two men were killed when a bomb they were allegedly carrying exploded prematurely along a highway in the restive southern Philippines. No motive has been established so far.
Police chief Chino Mamburam in Kidapawan city says the homemade explosive went off early Friday, killing the suspected bomber instantly. He says investigators managed to talk to his companion before he died in a hospital.
Mamburam says it’s possible the bomb was meant to disrupt peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The military blamed Al-Qaeda-linked militants for a blast last week in nearby Cotabato city that killed one man and wounded 12 people outside a gun store. Police suspect a land dispute was behind that incident.
Bali bomb suspect
Philippine officials, meanwhile, said they will help Indonesia prosecute the key suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings. The pledge comes after Umar Patek was sent home under tight security after being arrested in the same Pakistani town where US forces killed Osama Bin Laden.
Philippine Anti-Terrorism Council chief Paquito Ochoa Jr. said Friday that Manila will provide Indonesian prosecutors with intelligence and evidence they’ve gathered through the years from when Patek was believed hiding in the Philippines.
Patek allegedly helped carry out the Bali bombings that killed 202 people in Indonesia. He is believed to have fled in 2003 to the southern Philippines, where he has been accused of plotting attacks and training Abu Sayyaf extremists for years.