PHILIPPINES: The al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility yesterday for the southern Philippines airport bombing that left 21 dead, but Manila rejected the claim and arrested five members of the country's largest Muslim rebel group.
The authorities tightened security at key installations across the country following the powerful blast at the airport in Davao city on Mindanao island on Tuesday, which also injured more than 150 people.
Tensions remained high in the region after a bomb ripped through a department store in Cotabato city yesterday, causing a small fire but no casualties, police said.
Hamsiraji Sali, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group, told the local ABS-CBN television yesterday that his group staged the airport bombing and warned of more attacks to cripple the economy.
He said however the blast was not intended to maim or kill but to make a political point, but that the device had gone off earlier than intended.
"It was their (the victims) bad luck to be there," he said.
The blast was caused by a bomb hidden in a knapsack at a packed lounge outside the airport terminal, officials said.
The Abu Sayyaf had been classified a terrorist group by Washington for its alleged links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
The network's Southeast Asian chapter, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), is also cited as among suspects of the blast, the deadliest in the region since the bomb attack on the Indonesian island of Bali in October last year killed 202 people.
JI has also been blamed for the Bali carnage.
Among the dead from the Davao airport attack was an American, the only foreign fatality so far identified. Three other Americans were among the injured. - (AFP)