A contoversial Muslim congressman was the target of a powerful bomb outside the Philippine House of Representatives that killed him and three others, police said Wednesday.
Wahab Akbar one of the most influential figures in the country’s restive south, died in hospital on Tuesday night from injuries sustained in the blast. A driver and a congressional aide were also killed and an aide to Arkbar died of his injuries Wednesday. ” We now have evidence of a bomb… the cellphone and pieces of nails used as shrapnel,” Manila police chief Geary Barias said on Wednesday.
” They could see their target” he said. ” Those circumstances would show the target was Congressman Akbar.” Interior Secretary, Ronaldo Puno, said the entire House security staff had been suspended and replaced by special police commandos.
Nine people were uinjured in the blast of the sprawling congress complex in Manila on tuesday night, just minutes after most congressmen had left for the evening.
Akbar was a former member of the Abu Sayyaf who later turned against the group and helped the government in its anti-terrorism campaign against the militants on the southern island of Basilan, Barias said.