Supt. Albert Larubis, Isabela police director, said police had started securing the area outside Akbar’s house.
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It was not clear if Akbar was in the house at the time of the explosion.
Capt. Roy Trinidad is reported to have said that security forces immediately cordoned off the area while an explosive and ordnance disposal team conducted post-blast investigations.
Ajibon and Jonathan Cabuyao sustained slight injuries in the blast.
A bomb hit the auto of a vice mayor in Isabela City in Basilan island province, killing three security escorts of the vice mayor and injuring five others.
Bomb experts are scouring the area to retrieve pieces of evidence. Classes in educational institutions in Isabela were temporary suspended as tension gripped the city in the attack’s wake.
Officials did not say if the incident was an assassination attempt against Ajibon but it was gathered that yesterday’s bombing attack took place in the same spot as an earlier one on May 31, 2012 where Ajibon also was the apparent target.
This was the second explosion reportedly directed towards Ajibon.
The police said the bomb was placed inside the tool box of the motorcycle which was parked near the house of Akbar. The victims were brought to nearby hospitals for treatment.
Briones said police were looking at extortion as the possible motive for the attack.
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No group has claimed responsibility, though Basilan is a stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, blamed for kidnappings of Westerners as well as deadly bombings.
