A local government official in the southern Philippines survived an assassination plot Friday night in a bomb attack staged by separatist rebels, officials said, according to Xinhua.
Joaquin Concha, vice mayor of Kalamansig township in Sultan Kudarat province, was having dinner with his family at the ground floor of their house around 7:00 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) when an explosion ripped through their residence.
Mayor Rolando Garcia told a local radio station that the explosive used by the attackers was fashioned from a mortar shell.
"There's an ongoing investigation. No one was hurt in the attack," Garcia said.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a local military spokesman, confirmed the bomb attack.
"The roof of the (vice) mayor's house was damaged," he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but Garcia blamed rouge members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The MILF is the largest rebel group in the Southeast Asian country. Peace talks between the government and the 11,800-member MILF collapsed in August 2008 after the two sides failed to sign a territory agreement, prompting radical rebel commanders to launch a series of deadly attacks on Christian communities in Mindanao.
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