Terrorism in The Philippines - 2004

A homemade explosive device attached to a motorcycle parked in front of a gymnasium detonated during a basketball game in Parang, on Mindanao Island, killing at least ten people and possibly up to 24 people. At least eighty-seven others were injured, including two police and the target, the city's mayor. Witnesses said the spectators were mostly teenagers. Authorities believe the attack was an attempt to assassinate the Christian town mayor, Vivencio Bataga, who was giving a speech at the gymnasium in the town. This was the fourth attempt on Bataga's life in the previous year as unidentified men had earlier fired a rocket-propelled grenade that missed Bataga's vehicle, and in April 2003 a bomb exploded while he was in a public market.

A large explosion caused the sinking of SuperFerry 14 and the deaths of 116 people in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack. The 10,192-ton ferry sailed out of Manila for Cagayan de Oro City via Bacolod City and Iloilo City with about 900 passengers and crew. A television set containing an 8-pound (3.6 kilograms) TNT bomb had been placed on board in the lower, more crowded decks.

An hour after its 11 p.m. sailing, just off El Fraile island, an explosion tore through SuperFerry 14, starting a fire that engulfed the ship and caused the confirmed deaths of 63 people, while another 53 were reported missing and presumed dead. Six children less than five years old, and nine children between six and 16 years of age were among the dead or missing, including six students on a championship team sent by schools in northern Mindanao to compete in a journalism contest. Despite claims from various terrorist groups, the blast was initially thought to have been an accident, caused by a gas explosion. However, after divers righted the ferry, five months after it sank, they found evidence of a bomb blast. A man named Redondo Cain Dellosa, a Rajah Sulaiman Movement member, confessed to planting a bomb, triggered by a timing device, on board for the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group. He held a ticket on the ferry for bunk 51B, where the bomb was placed, and disembarked before the ship's departure.

A bomb exploded in a public market in South Dadiangas, General Santos City, killing fourteen people and wounding up to 70 others. The market in the predominantly Christian city of 500,000 people had been packed with Christmas shoppers at the time of the explosion. A week prior to the event, an anonymous source claimed that a group associated with Al-Ghozi (a member of Jemaah Islamiyah) threatened to burn the market in retaliation for the death of one of its members. However, Philippine police initially suggested the bombing was the result of a feud between rival groups over a market stall. Soon after the bombing, military intelligence sources concluded that Jemaah Islamiyah was responsible for the bombing and was working with Abu Sayyaf to bomb other targets on Mindanao Island. Police arrested five suspects in the bombing. Another four rebels were arrested in June 2005, including Uztadz Norodin Mangelen, the leader and alleged local JI representative of the group thought responsible for this attack and another in March 2003 against the Davao airport.