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Philippines Shaken by Latest Bombing
Aired October 18, 2002 - 14:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in the suburbs of the Philippine capital, though, where police say people with evil minds were behind tonight's bus bombing that killed at least three people.
CNN Producer Marga Ortigas joins us by telephone with the latest from there -- Marga, what happened?
MARGA ORTIGAS, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, Carol, at just after 10:00 local time, a moving passenger bus exploded on a main highway just north of Manila. Three people were killed in that blast and more than 20 more were injured. The injured were immediately taken to nearby hospitals. Police, however, say that the explosion went off at the back of the bus, and the force of it running throughout the entire bus, damaging the vehicle.
No one group has yet claimed responsibility for this, and the Philippine national security adviser, who was at the site, had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROILO GOLEZ, PHILIPPINE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, they are very concerned. This is definitely an act of terrorism, hitting a civilian bus and killing civilians in the process. We have three fatalities so far, and maybe about 20 sent to hospitals. The president is very concerned about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ORTIGAS: There is now a heightened security alert across metro Manila. There were several bomb threats throughout the day. Fortunately, most of them proved empty, except for this last one, on the moving passenger bus. Police are still not clearly linking this bus -- bomb, rather to the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, with suspected links to al Qaeda, though they are very clearly stating that they believe the Abu Sayyaf to be behind the two bombs set off in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga just yesterday -- Carol.
LIN: And Marga, this happened despite tightened security after two bombings Thursday in the southern Philippines, there have been grenade blasts around the country.
ORTIGAS: Yes, that is true. The president of the country, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo spent the morning in Zamboanga, visiting the site of the bomb blasts and the hospitals where the injured lay, and she was basically saying that there were no fears that the threat would escalate or spread to metro Manila. I believe this last blast has caught the country by surprise, really, proving to civilians that it might be time that everybody re-evaluate their actions and their own state of security.
LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Marga Ortigas, CNN producer.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 18, 2002 - 14:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in the suburbs of the Philippine capital, though, where police say people with evil minds were behind tonight's bus bombing that killed at least three people.
CNN Producer Marga Ortigas joins us by telephone with the latest from there -- Marga, what happened?
MARGA ORTIGAS, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, Carol, at just after 10:00 local time, a moving passenger bus exploded on a main highway just north of Manila. Three people were killed in that blast and more than 20 more were injured. The injured were immediately taken to nearby hospitals. Police, however, say that the explosion went off at the back of the bus, and the force of it running throughout the entire bus, damaging the vehicle.
No one group has yet claimed responsibility for this, and the Philippine national security adviser, who was at the site, had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROILO GOLEZ, PHILIPPINE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, they are very concerned. This is definitely an act of terrorism, hitting a civilian bus and killing civilians in the process. We have three fatalities so far, and maybe about 20 sent to hospitals. The president is very concerned about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ORTIGAS: There is now a heightened security alert across metro Manila. There were several bomb threats throughout the day. Fortunately, most of them proved empty, except for this last one, on the moving passenger bus. Police are still not clearly linking this bus -- bomb, rather to the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, with suspected links to al Qaeda, though they are very clearly stating that they believe the Abu Sayyaf to be behind the two bombs set off in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga just yesterday -- Carol.
LIN: And Marga, this happened despite tightened security after two bombings Thursday in the southern Philippines, there have been grenade blasts around the country.
ORTIGAS: Yes, that is true. The president of the country, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo spent the morning in Zamboanga, visiting the site of the bomb blasts and the hospitals where the injured lay, and she was basically saying that there were no fears that the threat would escalate or spread to metro Manila. I believe this last blast has caught the country by surprise, really, proving to civilians that it might be time that everybody re-evaluate their actions and their own state of security.
LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Marga Ortigas, CNN producer.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
