PNP tags woman behind Davao bus blast

Al-Khobar extortion gang tied to blast

DIGOS CITY—A woman was again involved in Monday’s blast that ripped through a bus at a terminal here and killed at least six people, prompting police authorities to say that it was another handiwork of the al-Khobar extortion group that was behind the series of bomb attacks on bus companies in 2006 and 2007.

Senior Supt. Cesario Darantinao, Davao del Sur police director, said the unidentified woman hurriedly disembarked from Metro Shuttle Bus No. 209 before the improvised explosive blew up at around 2:45 p.m.

Grace Nicolas, who survived the blast, said she had overheard the woman bomber asking other passengers not to let someone take her seat as she was coming back. “She was four seats away from where I sat,” she said.

As soon as the woman disembarked, the explosion took place, she said.

A police officer said the bomb blast was so powerful that it decapitated one of its victims and almost tore off the bus roof.

One of the fatalities was a pregnant woman, identified as Wella Trimocha (not Timotea as earlier reported). About 30 other people were wounded, according to a list provided by the City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC).

Darantinao said investigators found that the woman had three male companions when she rode the bus at Crossing Aplaya, about a kilometer away from the terminal. The bus was bound for Malita town in Davao del Sur province.

A woman also figured in the bombing of another Metro Shuttle bus on July 24 (not July 23, as reported earlier), he said.(By Orlando Dinoy, Eldie Aguirre
Mindanao Bureau; INQ.net)