Explosion rocked house of a city mayor in Basilan

From the Manila Times (Dec 14): Explosion rocked house of a city mayor in Basilan

SUSPECTED Abu Sayyaf (ASG) rebels bombed the house of a local official in Isabela City, Basilan province early dawn on Saturday, police reports said.

Police said that an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by suspected ASG militants went off in the house of Mayor Cherry Akbar in the downtown area of the city at about 2 a.m. Police added that the powerful explosion partly destroyed the concrete fence of the mayor’s house.

Senior Supt. Wilben Mayor, PNP spokesman, quoting reports, said no one was reported hurt in the said explosion, which are now being investigated by elements of the Isabela City Police Office.

Aside from the bombing of the mayor’s house, police also recovered another IED—fashioned out from an 81mm mortar— in a videoke bar located a few meters away from Akbar’s residence.

Reports said that prior to the said explosion, authorities have also recovered several types of explosives from a trading store also in the same city.

A police officer, who asked not to be named, said that the police are looking at possible ‘extortion attempt’ as the motive of the bombing.

Mayor Cherry Akbar is the wife for former representative Ustadz Wahab Akbar of Basilan, one of the four people killed by a bomb attack at the Batasan Pambansa Complex in Quezon City on November 13, 2007.

http://manilatimes.net/explosion-rocked-house-of-a-city-mayor-in-basilan/60458/