Terrorism in The Philippines - 2003

In the so-called Davao International Airport bombing a homemade bomb exploded at the waiting shed fronting the Davao International Airport at around 5:25 p.m, killing at least 21 and wounding at least 146. Airport personnel said the bomb exploded just as passengers of Cebu Pacific from Manila were deplaning. Among the victims were taxi drivers, airport porters, vendors, those sheltering from a tropical downpour while waiting for relatives and friends to arrive. An American missionary was killed while two other US nationals sustained injuries. The wounded Americans were identified as members of a Southern Baptist missionary family: Barbara Stevens, 33, her nine-month-old son, Nathan, and William Hyde, said to have multiple injuries. A boy, a girl, seven women and 10 men were among the other deceased. The waiting shed faces directly the arrivals section of the airport and the explosion ripped portion of its roof and shattered the glass windows on the first and second floors of the arrivals area across the street. In response to the bombing PAL announced it was suspending its Davao-Manila flights for the next day. American and Australian experts are helping Philippine investigators examine the airport bombing. The waiting shed blast was the worst in the history of the city in terms of victims, surpassing even the 1981 and 1993 attacks on San Pedro Cathedral.

At least 17 people were killed when a bomb exploded near a barbecue stand in a row of food stalls by the Sasa wharf ferry terminal in Davao City. Witnesses said a nun, four policemen, several vendors and a number of children were among those killed in the blast, while the military said more than 40 people or up to sixty people were injured. The government blamed the largest of four Muslim separatist groups for the attack, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, though the group strongly denied responsibility and called for the killers to be brought to justice. The Sasa Wharf bomb may have been meant for a ferry that had just landed at the Davao port.

Suspected MILF rebels attack a minibus in Carmen town, killing four people and wounding a further nine. A military spokesman stated that the four killed in the Carmen bus attack were a government official, Dionisio Villaver, his son and their two security escorts, apparently targeted as Villaver had supported a military offensive against the rebels. The minibus hit a landmine, and was thrown onto its side, after which MILF forces blasted the vehicle with rocket-propelled grenades and rifle fire.

A Super 5 bus driver and a female passenger were killed when suspected MILF members fired upon and seized a bus after it failed to halt at a rebel checkpoint in Kulambugan town, Lanao del Norte. At least 10 passengers were wounded and several taken hostage in the neaby town. Though the number of hostages taken in the Kolambugan attack could not be independently confirmed, sources stated four policemen were also held hostage after the rebels overran their outpost.

A statement from the commanding officer of the 401st Infantry Brigade reported that 11 civilians were also killed when several dozen MILF guerrillas attacked a fish car in Maigo at around 5:30 a.m. on the 25th, after it too failed to halt at an improvised rebel checkpoint. Another 8 persons were also wounded by gunfire on the fish car travelling to Libertad, Misamis Oriental. The commander also stated MILF forces allegedly flagged down several buses in the village of Kulasian but it was unknown if they took some of the passengers as hostages. The traffic in Maigo had reportedly been halted after the rebels destroyed several bridges on the highway.

An explosion in a public market in the southern city of Koronadal kills ten people and wounds 42 others. The bomb, reportedly made from an 81-millimeter mortar shell, exploded in a busy shopping street and authorities believe two suspected bombers, including one seen setting down a package containing the device, may have been among those killed. The attack followed a breakdown in peace talks between the government and a Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. While the government immediately blamed the group, a MILF spokesman told Reuters it had nothing to do with the bombing. Two were arrested in early 2004 as suspects for the bombing, though several people, including the wife of one suspect, claimed they were arrested without any warrant.

At least three people were killed and as many as 30 wounded as an unidentified man hurls grenades into mosque inside the compound of the Government's National Irrigation Administration in the town of Midsayap amid Friday prayers, on the island of Mindanao, police said. Among the fatalities was Ismael Datu Kali, an Islamic preacher presiding over the prayers and regional irrigation director who died of his wounds on the way to the hospital.

Six workers - Filipino and Indonesian nationals - are abducted from the Borneo Paradise Resort in Sabah, Malaysia, by suspected Abu Sayyaf fighters and brought to Tawi-Tawi island in the western Philippines. The kidnappers had demanded 60 million Malaysian ringgits in exchange for the safe release of the 6 hostages, according to Malaysian officials. One worker reportedly escaped while the other five were allegedly killed in a shooting incident outside the town of Languyan on Tawi-Tawi around October 27, despite later reports that the hostages were alive.