Bomb explodes outside house of Philippine mayor

From the Mindanao Examiner blog site (Dec 14): Bomb explodes outside house of Philippine mayor

Unidentified men exploded an improvised bomb outside the house of a Filipino mayor in the southern province of Basilan, but officials said there was no casualties from Saturday’s blast.

The explosive, assembled from a mortar round, detonated around 2 a.m., near the house of Isabela Mayor Cherry Akbar, whose husband Wahab Akbar, a lawmaker, was killed in a bomb attack at the entrance of the House of Representatives in Manila in November 2007.

Captain Jefferson Somera, a spokesman for the army’s 1st Infantry Division, said the blast left a two meter crater. “Two motorcycle men were spotted in the area prior to the explosion and we are closely working with the local police to determine the identities of the bombers,” he told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

Other reports said a second improvised bomb which did not explode was also recovered by authorities.

It was unknown if Akbar was the target of the explosion. But if she was, why would the bombers detonate the bomb outside her house instead of the sprawling compound of the politician.

Last year, a motorcycle rigged with explosives was also detonated outside Akbar’s house in Sunrise village while the convoy of her political rival Abdulbaki Ajibon, who was unhurt from the blast.

http://mindanaoexaminer.blogspot.com/2013/12/bomb-explodes-outside-house-of.html