PHILIPPINES: Blast rips through Philippine Congress building in suspected assassination of a Muslim lawmaker

An explosion rocked the Philippine Congress on Tuesday (November 13) night in a suspected assassination of a Muslim lawmaker that killed another person, injured several and unnerved the country's capital. Wahab Akbar, who represented the restive southern island of Basilan, died from his injuries in a local hospital after a suspected bomb tore up the southern entrance of the House of Representatives, shortly after 8 p.m. (1200 GMT). House of Representatives Speaker Jose de Venecia visited the hospital where Akbar's remains lay, waiting to be immediately transported in keeping with traditional Muslim burials. "This is a criminal, this is a dastardly, this is a cowardly act by an anarchist or a terrorist or an extremist who want to destabilise the country, destabilise the House of Representatives and who want to frighten the congressmen and congresswomen. Well, we will not be frightened," de Venecia said. "From what we saw, it looks like Congressman Akbar was the target of the attack," Manila's police chief Geary Barias told reporters, adding that the congressman's car was parked near the entrance. The driver of another legislator was also killed and around eight people, including at least two lawmakers, were injured in the blast which tore the roof off the southern entrance of Congress. Barias told local radio his officers were trying to recover explosive residue and said the blast could have originated from a parked motorcycle. The police and military put Manila and provinces north and south of the capital on full alert. They cordoned off Congress. Akbar was a three-term governor of Basilan before winning a seat in the House of Representatives this year. His family controls the island, which has been used as a base by Muslim terror group Abu Sayyaf. The largely Catholic Philippines has vowed to destroy the Abu Sayyaf, which is responsible for the country's worst terror attack, the bombing of a ferry outside Manila in 2004 in which over 100 people were killed. Small-scale bombings in the south and political murders are common in the Philippines but central government offices have not been targeted before. De Venecia said if the police gave the Congress the all-clear the lower house would open as normal on Wednesday (November 14). The spokesman for Arroyo said she had ordered the national police chief to personally supervise the investigation

ITN Source | November 14, 2007

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