Police crime scene investigators collect evidence from a bombing site in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines on October 26, 2011. Zamboanga has been bombed many times in the past by the Abu Sayyaf. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
A member of the police bomb squad was wounded when an improvised explosive device went off late Sunday in downtown Zamboanga City in southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said PO2 Franklin Init was rushed to the hospital after sustaining shrapnel wounds from the explosion. The police was inspecting the explosive inside the De Luxe Massage and Karaoke Bar at Tomas Claudio Street when it went off. Two explosions were reported in the first and second floors of the bar.
The blast occurred just as police and military forces tightened security in Zamboanga where more than 7,000 scouters are attending the week-long Centennial Jamboree.
Police have cordoned off the area as they searched for debris and evidence inside and outside the bar.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar rushed to the area and later proceeded to the hospital to see the condition of the injured policeman.
"Police and military authorities are thoroughly investigating to determine the cause and motive of the blasts that hit Deluxe Massage Parlor in Tomas Claudio Street shortly before 8 tonight. A member of the police bomb squad was injured while checking on the suspicious item in the area," she said.
"The public is advised to stay calm but vigilant and report suspicious persons or bags and other items to 062-117 or 166. Authorities are in control of the situation, that the city, particularly the Boy Scout of the Philippines jamboree participants are safe and sound. The blast site is over 20 kilometers away from the jamboree site in Ecozone."
She also assured the safety of scouters who are camping out at the sprawling compound of the Zamboanga City Economic and Freeport Zone in San Ramon village where armed soldiers and policemen, backed by armored vehicles, were guarding them.
Officials could not say if the twin explosions were the handiwork of Abu Sayyaf militants blamed by authorities to the spate of bombings and killings in the southern Philippines.
Last month, police bomb squad also disrupted an improvised explosive abandoned at the Plaza Pershing also in downtown Zamboanga. The explosive was hidden in a thermos that contained nails and ammonium nitrate, a banned chemical fertilizer widely used by rebels in the manufacture of homemade bombs.
The Abu Sayyaf has recently pledged allegiance to the jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
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