Soldier Killed as Bomb Hits Jolo Airport

December 26, 2003

Soldier Killed as Bomb Hits Jolo Airport
Manila Times, Philippines 
 
ZAMBOANGA—A homemade bomb exploded Friday as it was being defused outside an 
airport in Jolo, Sulu province, killing a soldier and wounding another, the 
military said. 

Civilians found the bomb concealed in a cardboard box that had been left near a 
perimeter fence of the Jolo airport. Troops were alerted and tried to disarm 
it, but it exploded, killing one. 

The victim was M/Sgt. Nestor Escodo, team supervisor of the Army’s 3rd 
explosive ordnance division detachment. A certain Sergeant Dolesa was also 
wounded in the explosion, which took place at around 1:30 p.m. 

A second bomb was found on a roadside also near the airport but was detonated. 

“The powerful blast killed the soldier instantly and another soldier was 
injured and we still don’t know who’s behind this latest act of 
terrorism,” said Col. Fredesvindo Covarrias, commander of the Army’s civil 
relations group in the South. 

“Civilians informed the military about the bomb after they saw electrical 
wires protruding from the box,” he said. 

Authorities have yet to determine who was behind the bomb attack, but Jolo is a 
stronghold of the Muslim Abu Sayyaf group, considered by the governments of the 
United States and Manila to be a foreign terrorist organization. 

The explosion came as authorities across the country were placed on high alert 
to thwart possible attacks on vital installations during the holidays. 

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a spate of kidnappings and bombings in the 
South in recent years. 

Officials had warned of retaliatory attacks in the South after one of its 
leaders, Ghalib Andang, was wounded and captured earlier this month by troops 
in Jolo. 

Andang, alias Commander Robot, is under tight guard at a military hospital in 
Quezon City, where he is recuperating from an amputated left leg.

 
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