At least 12 killed as bombs hit Manila
MANILA, Philippines -- Five explosions rocked Manila today, killing at least 12 people and wounding scores more as they ripped apart a bus and a train coach and hit an airport, a hotel and a park, police and radio reports said.
Edgardo Aglipay, the police chief for metropolitan Manila, said police suspected the attacks were the work of extremist Muslim rebels. They came a day after all Manila-area police were put on alert for Christmas-season bombing attacks by the Abu Sayyaf rebel group.
The first four blasts occurred nearly simultaneously around midday today. Police later found a fifth bomb at the posh Dusit hotel and tried to defuse it, but it exploded as they worked, killing a bomb expert.
The blast on the train appeared to have been the most destructive: The light railway transport train's front coach was blown apart as it pulled into Manila's Blumentritt Station at noon. At least nine people died and more than 40 were hurt.
"The train was approaching when I heard the explosion in the front coach," said Mari Vicpaglan, a ticket clerk at the railway station. "It was so loud. I tried to help them. I felt dizzy because of the number of people pleading for help."
The usually crowded Manila light railways system trains are even more so during the holidays. Ambulances were evacuating people on stretchers, and a reporter from DCMM Radio said he saw at least four bodies sprawled around the train.
Police didn't yet know who was responsible for the train blast or what type of explosive device was involved. They said they had taken one witness in for questioning but would not say if the person was a suspect.
Elsewhere, a bomb exploded in a bus inside the main bus terminal in Quezon city, in the greater Manila area. ABS-CBN Television reported at least one dead and severe damage to the terminal.
A third blast came near a large aviation fuel depot at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport. At least three people were hurt, said an airport official, but the fuel depot did not explode.
The fourth bomb exploded on a bench in a park near the U.S. Embassy, wounding at least nine, blasting a two-foot crater in the ground and damaging buildings some 200 yards from the embassy. The bomb apparently was not directed at the embassy itself.
Lonnie Kelley, acting spokeswoman at the U.S. Embassy, said the embassy was not damaged and she knew of no injured staff members.
"Normal security procedures are taking place right now," she said. "Security has been heightened in the past, and we're not taking any extraordinary measure now. We're very confident the local police will be able to handle it and find the perpetrator."
The Philippines has long grappled with a multitude of religious and political conflicts as well as rising crime. In the south, two Muslim separatist guerrilla groups have been fighting for a separate Islamic nation. The larger group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has been blamed for bombings in Manila in the past.