Bomb victim politician betrayed al-Qaida

A politician killed in a bomb blast outside the Philippines congress may have been targeted by al-Qaida after double crossing them, it emerged today.

Wahab Akbar had been a supporter of the extremist group in the early 1990s but switched to support a US-led campaign to stamp them out.

One of his aides caught in the blast died in hospital today bringing the death toll to four. Also killed were a driver and an office worker. Twelve other people were wounded.

Police said Mr Akbar appeared to have been the target of the remotely detonated explosion, which shattered an entrance to the House of Representatives as it emptied after a session.

It was hidden on one of two parked motorbikes and then remotely detonated as Mr Akbar approached his car.

Mr Akbar, a former Muslim separatist rebel who became governor of southern Basilan province, joined the extremist Abu Sayyaf group in the 1990s when it had just launched a campaign to set up Islamic rule in the southern Philippines.

But as the group started attacking Christians, kidnapping for ransom and beheading hostages, he quit and joined US-backed military operations against the militants in Basilan.

Two months ago Mr Akbar denied any Abu Sayyaf links, calling the allegations “a lie told a thousand times” by the military, police and his political enemies.

Officials said the blast was not necessarily an Abu Sayyaf revenge attack.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the investigation was “pointing away from a terrorist attack and more of a directed assault on a certain individual”.

He said there had been threats on Mr Akbar’s life.

Mr Akbar had many political foes, including some who ran and lost against one of his three wives, who succeeded him as Basilan governor. Another wife became mayor of the provincial capital.