[RCW2001]

This just in...

One American Dies After Philippine Blast
Tue March 4, 2003 08:33 AM ET
MANILA (Reuters) - The U.S. Embassy in Manila said on Tuesday one American had died after being severely wounded by a powerful bomb blast at an airport in the southern Philippines.

At least 18 people were killed and more than 100 wounded, including three other Americans, in the blast that ripped through a shelter outside the airport in Davao, the second-biggest city after the capital, Manila.

"One of the Americans has died," a spokesman for the embassy told Reuters. But he did not know the exact condition of the three injured Americans.

The attack came amid heightened security against attacks by Muslim separatist rebels in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country.

U.S. special forces are now on the southern island of Mindanao, training Philippine units in counter-terrorism tactics in the city of Zamboanga, 350 km (220 miles) west of Davao.

[Int]

This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsnat-5mar2003-4.htm] Posted: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 0:33 AEDT 'Several men' held after Philippines airport blast: Arroyo aide Police have arrested "several men" in connection with a deadly airport bombing in the southern Philippines that left at least 19 dead and more than 100 wounded on Tuesday, President Gloria Arroyo said through her spokesman. President Arroyo was informed by the national police that they have "already several men in custody being interrogated for committing these murders", her spokesman Ignacio Bunye said. "This is a brazen act of terrorism that will not go unpunished," she said in a statement read on DZBB radio by her spokesman. "The killing is a cowardly crime not only against the Filipino people but against humanity itself."