By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants have bombed a power line in a Philippine province known as an Abu Sayyaf stronghold in the Muslim south - disrupting electric supply to many areas for several hours.
Senior Inspector Gean Gallardo, Lamitan City police chief, said Saturday a homemade bomb exploded the night before at one of the electric posts of Basilan Electric Cooperatrive, Inc. along a main road.
"There was no casualty reported as a result of blast, except the power line of Baselco that was toppled down," he said, adding that a military explosive ordinance division had recovered an improvised explosive device’s main ingredient and bomb residue from the blast site.
No group has claimed responsibility, but authorities suspect Abu Sayyaf militants of trying to make their presence felt.
Friday night's bomb attack was the second incident in Basilan province this week, and the fifth in Mindanao – the country’s second largest and southernmost major island.
On Tuesday, four suspected Abu Sayyaf members riding a motorcycle threw a fragmentation grenade at a warehouse in Lamitan City, but no one was wounded in the attack.
The series of explosions comes as authorities are keeping close watch on reports that Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militants have recruited members of the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao.
A video posted in late July that opens with al-Qaeda’s symbolic black flag shows senior Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon – who carries a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head and has been indicted in Washington for “terrorist acts” against foreign nationals - alongside masked men pledging allegiance to ISIL.
On July 25, Australian Muslim preacher Robert Cerantonio - aka Musa - was arrested in Lapu-lapu City in the central Philippines for rallying support for ISIL on social media.
Cerantonio is believed to have been hiding in the Philippines for half a year, recruiting Filipino militants and giving pro-ISIL lectures in Basilan and Sulu, another Abu Sayyaf stronghold.
Authorities did not indicate whether Cerantonio had recruited Hapilon.
Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.
It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.
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