Terrorism in The Philippines - 2010

In Lamitan City, suspected Abu Sayyaf militants detonated a bomb near the house of a Basilan province mayor, injuring one teenager.

A 12-year-old boy is killed as an IED detonates under the van of Rajamuda Kasim, a candidate for councillor in the town of Parang, Maguindanao. At least 4 others were injured.

Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants attack a village in Maluso during a pre-dawn raid, killing 12 people including four young children. About 70 gunmen linked to the extremist Abu Sayyaf group fired grenade launchers and automatic rifles on houses, and torched others while residents were sleeping, killing one government-armed militiaman and 10 civilians in the village of Tubigan on the island of Basilan.

The regional health chief confirmed to the Associated Press that seventeen people were wounded in the attack, with nine in a critical condition, including four children. Several of those critically wounded died later in Zamboanga City hospitals.

The attack followed the killing of an Abu Sayyaf commander and the arrest of two key members and government forces had been warned to be on alert for reprisal attacks. Lieutenant General Ben Dolorfino, chief of the military's Western Mindanao Command, indicated that a clan war was the apparent motive in the killings and the attack had been motivated by a personal grudge with the village chairman.

A soldier dies after a military truck was bombed by suspected New People's Army guerrillas in Davao City. A truck carrying members of the Philippine Army was bombed while cruising along a road in the Paquibato district around 2:50 p.m. Two soldiers were also hurt and evacuated to Davao Medical Center.

Four policemen are killed and five others were wounded in an ambush by leftist rebels in the northern city of Antipolo. A team from the Philippine National Police Special Action Force were aboard their vehicle when suspected New People's Army rebels detonated a land mine at San Jose village in Antipolo City around 6 am.

At least 25 suspected Abu Sayyaf militants wearing police and military camouflage uniforms set off two bombs in Isabela City and open fire on other bystanders, killing three Marines, a policeman and six civilians and wounding a large number of others.

The first bomb detonated inside a van about 10:30 am outside an education department building and opposite a sports stadium. The second, rigged to a motorcycle left near a Roman Catholic church, exploded minutes later and heavily damaged the building.

The bombings ignited gun battles around the city between rebels and security forces, with the militants allegedly targeting helpless civilians seeking cover. A civilian was briefly held hostage while some militants fled and third bomb placed near a judge's house opposite a bus terminal was safely detonated later by soldiers. The city mayor, Cherry Akbar, stated almost all of the 14 fatalities were caused by small arms fire, including at least four militants, one of whom apparently perished in the first blast. Two injured suspects were arrested after the attack and interrogated, giving an account that they had been hired.

Four civilians died and six were wounded in an afternoon attack by about 30 hooded attackers on a commuter jeep going home from Basilan's capital of Isabela City, through the township of Maluso.

The attackers, believed to be Abu Sayyaf militants, fired from a hill with rifles onto the jeepney, killing two passengers instantly. Other commuters were struck and killed by bullets as they tried to flee, stated police chief for the island province of Basilan, Antonio Mendoza, who also confirmed a 10-year-old boy that survived the attack had been struck repeatedly by a machete. The al-Qaeda linked militants may have staged the attack to divert government troops from a weeklong offensive in a nearby town.

A bomb explodes in a suitcase carried by a respected individual of the Zamboanga Christian community outside the terminal of Zamboanga International Airport, killing the carrier and a passer-by and wounding at least 24 others with shrapnel, including an elderly British man who lived in the area. As suicide bombings have not been known to happen before in the Philippines, police were investigating the theory that the suspected bomber was not a suicide bomber in the usual sense, but a proxy who may not have known he was carrying a remotely detonated weapon.

The Governor of Sulu, Sakur Tan, stated that the bomb may have been intended for him as he arrived from Manila, however Army officers believe the attack had been linked to the U.S. ambassador's visit to Zamboanga, scheduled for August 6 and cancelled for security reasons.

A municipal counselor and four others, including two teenagers, were shot and killed in an ambush by at least 10 members of an unidentified armed group at Bolod village in San Pascual, Masbate. The victims were identified as municipal counselor Wenceslao Sinagpulo Jr., Baptist church Pastor Rolito Aragaon, driver Rael Ponte and high school students Ronnie Orcales and Raffy Francisco. The town councilor Wenceslao Sinagpulo Jr. and the other four victims died at the scene after their vehicle was ambushed by unknown assailants at around 2:30 p.m. as they travelled towards Mapanique village. Masbate Representative Narciso Bravo declared that the killing was politically motivated, however no group has claimed responsibility.

Ten people, including a bus conductor, die in a blast on board a bus travelling on a highway outside Matalam township of North Cotabato. The bus is thought to have had 60 passengers aboard when the explosion happened, killing eight people at the scene and critically wounding six others, 2 mortally.

The bomb is believed to have been hidden inside a bag, placed in a luggage compartment at the rear of the bus, and detonated soon after a group of men who were suspected to have planted it exited the vehicle. An ordnance team stated it appeared to have been an 81 mm mortar round that was remotely detonated using mobile phones.

A previous bus bombing in the vicinity of Matalam, in 2007, was attributed to the al-Khobar group, a gang of former Muslim insurgents that had taken to extortion. They are the prime suspects in the 2010 attack as the bus company involved in the bombing had been targeted for extortion in the past.

A bomb explodes at a passenger bus terminal in the North Cotabato province's Carmen township, killing one person and wounding two others. The explosion at the station occurred near an outer fence, wounding two people on a bus and one standing nearby. The 17-year-old male bystander was critically wounded and later died at a hospital.

Two civilians were killed, one of them a 15-year-old boy and the other a former barangay chairman of Brgy. Poponton, in the ambush on a pump boat along Hinaga River in the Northern Samar town of Las Navas. Five soldiers and a civilian were reported missing as a result of the ambush carried out with automatic weapons at around 5 pm that left the civilian vessel heavily damaged. The attack was believed to have been committed by an undetermined number of NPA rebels who were said to be hiding along the forested area of the Hinaga River.

A bomb explodes during Christmas Day Mass at a chapel inside a police camp, wounding a priest and 10 churchgoers, all of whom were civilians. The device was hidden in a ventilation window near the ceiling of the chapel, inside the compound where the provincial police office is located in Jolo town on Jolo Island. Investigators recovered parts of a cell phone they believe detonated the device. Pope Benedict XVI condemned the attack as what he called "absurd violence" against Christians.