Last paragraph tells you who was behind it.
CUI BONO, readers?
"Philippine rebel-turned-congressman killed in bombing
Blast believed focused on him, not a terror attack
By Oliver Teves, Associated Press | November 14, 2007
MANILA - A bomb exploded outside the House of Representatives late yesterday, killing a former Muslim rebel-turned-congressman who had backed a US-Philippine offensive against Islamic militants. A lawmaker's driver and a legislative staffer also died.
STINK!!
The remotely detonated bomb collapsed the ceiling at the building's entrance, damaged cars, and injured seven people, including two congresswomen. Their injuries were not life threatening.
STINK! STINK!!!
"I felt the blast although I was on the other side of the building," Representative Teodoro Casino said.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the target appeared to be Representative Wahab Akbar, a former rebel who as governor of southern Basilan Province gave his support to military operations against Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. Akbar died of wounds in a hospital, police said.
Puno sought to play down the possible involvement of Muslim extremists, however, saying the investigation was "pointing away from terrorist attack and more of a directed assault on a certain individual."
"There were threats on the life of Akbar," Puno said. "The indications are that that was the case both in terms of location of the bomb and the manner it was set off."
While he turned on the Muslim rebels, Akbar also had many political foes, including those who ran against one of his wives who succeeded him as Basilan governor. Political rivalries in the southern Philippines are often accompanied by bloodshed, and assassinations of politicians are common.
Akbar, 47, was a member of the Moro National Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group that dropped its secessionist goal and signed a peace accord with the government in September 1996.
Some security officials suspected Akbar knew the leaders of Abu Sayyaf, a radical Muslim group that has its roots on Basilan island. But they said he later had a falling out with Abu Sayyaf commanders and started fighting them.
Akbar was Basilan governor when US troops arrived on the island to train Filipino soldiers battling Abu Sayyaf. Over the years, the island was gradually transformed from a militant hotbed into a showcase of counterterrorism success and humanitarian development.
The key Abu Sayyaf leaders were killed last year in a clash with Philippine Marines on neighboring Jolo island. But some of the group's fighters regrouped and returned to Basilan, where they have joined with other guerrillas to stage sporadic attacks.
And CUI BONO, readers?
No regrouping, no showcase, no showcase, no war!
At the bombing scene, national police chief Avelino Razon said a destroyed motorcycle was found and specialists were conducting chemical tests to determine whether it was used to carry the bomb.
Investigators suspected the bomb might have been hidden on one of two parked motorcycles and then remotely detonated as Akbar approached his car, mortally wounding him and ripping the motorcycles apart, the metropolitan Manila police chief, Geary Barias, said.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo urged people not to jump to conclusions about the attack. "We're making a call against rumors, accusations that create confusion, fear, and conflict," she said.
House Speaker Jose de Venecia said that whoever was responsible, "I'm sure it was deliberately done to cow us."
The blast occurred amid heightened political tensions in the country as Arroyo faces a third impeachment attempt in as many years."
And CUI BONO, readers?
Sure takes the attention off the impeachment, huh?
STINK!!!!!!!
