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Lawmaker dies in Congress blast
13/11/2007 21:04 - (SA)
Manila - A bomb rocked the Philippine Congress on Tuesday in a suspected assassination of a Muslim lawmaker that also killed two others, injured several more and unnerved the country's capital.
Wahab Akbar, who represented the southern island of
Basilan, died from his injuries in a hospital after the
explosion tore up the southern entrance of the House of
Representatives.
Manila's police chief Geary Barias, said: "It looks like Congressman Akbar was the target", adding that his car had been parked near the entrance.
"Congressman Akbar was getting threats from many groups."
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who visited the bomb
site, urged Filipinos already rattled by a deadly explosion in
an upscale Manila mall last month, to remain calm.
'Hunt down perpetrators'
She said: "Let me assure our people and our friends here and abroad that the Philippines and your government shall not rest until we get to the bottom of this tragedy and hunt down the
perpetrators."
The driver of a legislator and a congressional aide were
also killed and about eight people, including at least two MPs,
were injured in the blast which ripped the roof off the southern
entrance of Congress. A gnarled mesh of wire and concrete hung
over the lobby.
Small-scale bombings in the south, where there are
long-running communist and Muslim insurgencies, and political
murders are common in the Philippines, but central government
offices have not been targeted before.
- Reuters
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