(UPDATE) Woman dies, 32 hurt in Zamboanga bus IED blast

ZAMBOANGA CITY (PNA) – A woman was killed while 32 others were injured when an improvised bomb exploded inside a passenger bus that had just arrived at the bus terminal here Thursday afternoon.The mangled remains of thewoman was found inside the wrecked bus. Citing intelligence inforamtion a police investigator who asked not to be named for lack of authority, said police had been placed on heightened alert due to threats of bombing by suspected Abu Sayyaf Group. Several ASG members are detained atZamboanga City Reformation Center, as well as the upcoming feast of the city in October.Survivors told investigators that as the bus parked at the bus terminal, the bus conductor noticed a plastic bag in the garbage binleft by an unidentified passenger who alighted quickly. Suspicious of the plastic bag contents, the conductor tried to bringthe trash bin out of the bus when it exploded.Supt. Felixberto Martinez, local police’ Special Investigation Unit (SIU), disclosed the incident took place shortly after 2 p.m. Friday at the bus terminal on Tomas Claudio Street downtown, this city.A passenger bus with body number 1641 of D’ Biel Transit Company was damaged since the bomb was placed at the mid-section of the vehicle.The bus had just arrived and unloaded passengers at the terminal coming from Barangay Labuan, 36 kilometers west of this city. Initial count of victims is that 18 people were injured,” local police’ spokesman Chief Insp. Joel Tuttuh, said.The victims, two of them in critical condition, were rushed to the hospitals for treatment.The explosion has paralyzed the operations of several business establishments within the vicinity of the bus terminal.The personnel of the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teamare shifting the blast site as investigation continue in a bid to identify the suspects.