Philippines arrests 5 over Sunday market blast
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-16 13:07

Philippine authorities have arrested a suspected Islamic radical and four others for a bomb blast that killed 14 people, but officials said the gang could have been hired for the job by feuding merchants or criminals.

Two women and three men were arrested in connection with Sunday's powerful explosion in General Santos City, Colonel Alfredo Cayton, an army brigade commander, told reporters on Thursday.

Troops seized a 60mm mortar round, a grenade, blasting caps and a white powdery substance during a raid in General Santos City on Wednesday afternoon that led to the arrests, he said.

Although one of the men arrested was a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group, the attack was not necessarily linked to ideology, he said.

Other officials have said the gang could have been hired by shopkeepers feuding over the market where the bomb was placed or by a gang looking to extort money from businessmen.

"They're under tactical interrogation to determine the motive behind the bomb attack," Cayton said. "Our troops are still conducting follow-up operations because there could be more people involved."

No other details of the five suspects have been released.

Aby Sayyaf is a Muslim militant group that has been linked to al Qaeda and blamed for a deadly ferry bombing in February and numerous kidnappings in the mainly Roman Catholic country.

Antonio Billiones, the region's police chief, said there had been intelligence reports since September of a plot by Abu Sayyaf to bomb the southern city.

But Cayton, the military commander, said it was too early to conclude that the market blast was the handiwork of militants, even if a known Abu Sayyaf member had been arrested.

Abu Sayyaf also has ties with Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a regional militant network suspected of the Bali bombings in 2002 and other attacks in Indonesia and elsewhere in the region.

Pedro Acharon, the mayor of General Santos City, has said he believed the deadly blast stemmed from a feud between Christian and Muslim merchants for control of the market. Some security analysts support the theory of business rivalry.

Australia has sent seven men to help local police with the forensic investigation and assess whether the explosives used in the market attack match the bombs used in Bali two years ago and outside Canberra's embassy in Jakarta months ago.

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