A powerful bombing killed a man and wounded about a dozen other people including a provincial governor Thursday at an airport in a southern Philippine city, a day ahead of a planned visit by the US ambassador. The blast went off at 6:15 P.M. (1015 GMT), just outside the arrival gate as passengers were leaving the Zamboanga city airport, said Col. Santiago Baluyot, head of the military's Task Force Zamboanga. As the smoke cleared, police found a man's mutilated body. The US ambassador to the Philippines called off the planned trip. Ambassador Harry Thomas said he now intended to fly to Zamboanga city at some other time to allow the local authorities to concentrate on going after those responsible for the attack on the airport. “Knowing that the (police are) working hard to investigate this tragic incident, and understanding that my visit would require a great deal of security support, I have decided to postpone my travel tomorrow,” he said. “I deplore this heinous crime that victimized ordinary travelers. Our condolences to the innocent deceased and wounded victims of this brutal attack,” Thomas said in a statement. Investigators were trying to determine whether the man killed was a bomber, Baluyot said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. Sakur Tan, governor of Sulu province – an Abu Sayyaf stronghold south of Zamboanga – was among the dozen wounded people, Mayor Celso Lobregat said. One of the wounded was in serious condition. “I believe I was the target,” Tan told reporters, saying the device went off just a yard (meter) away from him. “I saw the flash very clearly.” Tan was on the plane that arrived minutes earlier from Manila, about 860 kilometers north of Zamboanga. He sustained a small wound near his ribs, Lobregat said. Tan, the Sulu governor, has been targeted before. He escaped unharmed when a bomb-rigged motorcycle exploded near his convoy in Sulu in May last year. – Agencies A town mayor and at least three security escorts were wounded in that attack. Lobregat said the man who was killed in Thursday's attack “looks like he was the one who was carrying the explosive device.” No warnings or threats were received, Lobregat told reporters. President Benigno Aquino III “condemns the violence” and “instructed the relevant authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice,” said his spokesman, Edwin Lacierda.
