‘Suicide bomber’, 10 others die in Basilan explosion

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Eleven people, including a foreign-looking individual suspected to be suicide bomber, were killed while five others were wounded in a car bomb explosion early Tuesday in Lamitan City, Basilan province, officials said.

Lt. Col. Montano Almodovar, the Army’s 3rd Scout Ranger Battalion commander, said over RMN-Zamboanga that the explosion happened around 5:50 a.m. at the Magkawit Detachment, located along the boundaries of Barangays Bulanting, Colonia, and Maganda, Lamitan City.

Lamitan City Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay told the Philippine News Agency the intersection of the three barangays serves as the main thoroughfare to the nearby towns of Akbar and Mohammad Ajul.

Almodovar said that prior to the incident, the troops flagged down a white van that was traveling towards Lamitan City proper for inspection.

Citing witnesses, he said the van suddenly exploded while the troops requested its driver to disembark from the vehicle.

The driver was a foreign-looking person and could not speak any of the local dialect, including Filipino, he said. Among the fatalities were a soldier, five militiamen and four civilians who were militia dependents.

An Army Scout Ranger junior officer, an enlisted man and three militiamen were among those injured and were airlifted to the Camp Navarro General Hospital in this city.

The explosion wrecked the van as well as the checkpoint and a motorcycle. (PNA)