Fourteen people were wounded, eight of them in critical condition, when a pipe bomb exploded in Manila, police said Saturday, but authorities dismissed any link to an Asian leaders’ meeting under way in the capital.
The explosion happened late Friday about five kilometers (three miles) from the heavily guarded complex where Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders are meeting and police said they were investigating the possibility it was a revenge assault or ‘gang war’.
A relative of a 14-year-old boy injured in an attack in the same area by a group of youths earlier in the week had made public threats, police spokeswoman Chief Inspector Kimberly Molitas said.
She described the device as a “homemade pipe bomb” stuffed with low-grade explosives, like the ones used to make firecrackers.
No one has been arrested.
“The incident is not in any way connected to or directed [at] the ongoing Asean summit,” Ernesto Abella, spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte, said in a statement.
“We assure our people that security measures are in place in today’s event and ask the public for their full understanding and cooperation in this regard.”
The Philippines is fighting Islamic militants based in the country’s south who have been blamed by police in the past for deadly bombings as well as kidnappings.
National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa who visited the scene ruled out terror attack.
He said that prior to the explosion, a youth gang war was monitored by police in the area.
Of the 14 people hurt, six were treated for minor wounds and sent home, while eight others remain in hospital, two of them with serious injuries, Molitas said.
Most of the victims were brought to the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center in Sta. Cruz, Manila while the others were rushed to the Philippine General Hospital on Taft Avenue.
Bomb experts declared the blast site safe and cleared of any explosive materials.
The Asean Security Task Force assured delegates attending the summit that there is nothing to worry about and that the situation is under control. With AFP and PNA