Deadly Bombing At Philippine Congress

A Philippine congressman who had been targeted by Muslim militants was among two people killed late Tuesday when a bomb exploded at an entrance of the Philippine House of Representatives, police said.

Rep. Wahab Akbar's chief of staff said the congressman, a former member of a Muslim rebel group that signed a peace accord with the government in 1996, died at the hospital.

Metropolitan Manila police chief Geary Barias said a lawmaker's driver also was killed in the explosion, which went off as the House ended its session. Eight people were injured.

Investigators suspect the bomb may have been placed on one of two parked motorcycles then remotely detonated as Akbar approached his car, fatally wounding him and ripping the motorcycles apart, Barias said.

"It looks like Congressman Akbar was the target," Barias said. Police and soldiers in the capital went on high alert.

Akbar, a former governor of southern Basilan province, had been targeted by the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group in the past for launching offensives against them.

"At this point in time I'm saying it's a bomb, but I can't say what type of bomb," said Avelino Razon, the national police chief.

The bomb went off as drivers were picking up lawmakers and their staff and damaged a number of cars outside the southern entrance to the building.

"I felt the blast although I was on the other side of the building. The ceiling of the canopy near the south wing entrance came down," Rep. Teodoro Casino told The Associated Press.

Razon said a destroyed motorcycle was found and experts were conducting chemical swabs on it to find out if it was used to carry the bomb.

Police cordoned off the massive House complex in suburban Quezon City shortly after the explosion.

"If this is terrorist action or work of an anarchist I'm sure it was deliberately done to cow us," House Speaker Jose de Venecia told reporters at the site.

Political tensions are high in the country. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is facing a third impeachment complaint in as many years.

"We cannot rule out anything until the investigation is completed," de Venecia said. "There are many threats to us personally and officially. We will have to decide whether we have to augment security."

He said he will speak with Arroyo "to inform her tonight that we will not be cowed by terrorists."

The Philippine capital has been jittery since last month, when an explosion damaged a shopping mall in the financial district, killing 11 people and injuring more than 100. A preliminary police report said it was an accident, although the owners of the mall disputed the finding.

Muslim militants also have bombed targets in the capital in the past.

The slain congressman, Akbar, was once a member of the Moro National Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group that dropped its secessionist goal and signed a peace accord with the government in September 1996.

Some security officials have suspected that Akbar knew the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim radical group that has its roots on Basilan island. But they said he later had a falling out with Abu Sayyaf commanders and started fighting them.

Akbar also had political opponents, including those that ran against one of his wives who succeeded him as governor of Basilan.