New York, March 3, 2000–CPJ is investigating the February 27 bomb attack against the Catholic radio station dxMS, in Cotabato City, on the island of Mindanao. A bomb reportedly exploded outside the building housing the station just after 8:00 p.m., during the broadcast of the daily program “Radio Kalimudan.”
Cotabato City police said the bomb’s intended target was Zam Ampatuan, host of “Radio Kalimudan,” according to a report published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, an English-language newspaper based in Manila. Ampatuan said he had previously received several death threats from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), one of several groups fighting for an independent Islamic state on the island of Mindanao.
“I am definite it was the handiwork of the MILF because I am exposing [in my program] their very terroristic nature and some of their very well-known atrocities in the community,” Ampatuan told the Inquirer.
Sunday’s bombing took place soon after the breakdown of peace talks between the government and Muslim separatists in the southern Philippines.
The MILF has denied responsibility for the attack, according to the English-language daily Zamboanga Times, published in Zamboanga City, Mindanao.
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