Glorietta 2 Makati Bombing

A sad day yesterday. a bomb ripped through the Glorietta Mall 2 in Makati City yesterday. As of last report, there are now 9 confirmed dead and 119 wounded. Investigators are still determining the real cause of the blast but initial investigation found the RDX compound on the center of the blast. RDX have been quite know to be a key component of plastic explosive. The group Raja Soleiman Movement already admitted the bombing but still both the AFP and PNP are still continuing the investigation as of now.

I hope and pray that God will help those that people that where wounded and also that God would help the grieving families.

- zerotech99

High-grade bomb blamed for Manila blast

By OLIVER TEVES, Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines - A bomb made from high-grade explosives — and likely set off by terrorists — caused the blast that killed at least nine people and wounded more than 100 at a mall in Manila's financial district, officials said Saturday.

The strong explosion ripped through three floors of the Glorietta 2 shopping mall in Makati city on Friday, hurling slabs of concrete, twisting steel reinforcements, and shattering glass panels. Earlier police reports had said a fuel tank caused the blast.

"It's a bomb, but as to what kind of bomb, we are still trying to determine," Avelino Razon, the national police chief, told The Associated Press. "More likely it's a terrorist attack — but what terrorist group? We have no indicator."

Days ago, Razon ordered "maximum security coverage" at possible southern Philippine terror targets, such as critical infrastructure, malls, transport hubs, and religious shrines, following police intelligence reports of possible terror bombings after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Red Cross volunteers recovered the body of a man, the ninth fatality, buried under rubble Saturday.

The Red Cross reported that at least one more person remained missing.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called a Cabinet security meeting Saturday with police and military officials at the national police headquarters.

Police bomb investigators told Arroyo they detected residue from the high explosive RDX at the blast site.

Several opposition politicians and Arroyo critics had suggested the government may be responsible for the bombing to divert attention from scandals plaguing her administration, over alleged overpriced projects and bribes to lawmakers to defeat an impeachment movement.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales stopped short of directly blaming the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, but noted that the group has aired appeals on the Internet for international support from jihadist groups.

"What is more ominous here is they may be planning a bigger attack," Gonzales said Saturday. "They will first show a sample. That means that while the bomb yesterday already was powerful, it is still just a sample."

Abu Sayyaf militants, notorious for kidnappings and for beheading many hostages, have waged a bombing campaign for years in the southern Philippines in their aim to establish a separate state for the area's majority Muslims. Abu Sayyaf and the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah network have also launched attacks in Manila.

In 2004, Abu Sayyaf militants blew up a passenger ferry in Manila Bay, killing 116 people in the country's worst terrorist attack.

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