MANILA — Security throughout the Philippines has been stepped up after the Valentine’s Day bombings in three cities, claimed by a group linked to al-Qaeda, left at least 12 people dead and over 130 injured.

In Jolo, meanwhile, government forces continued to pound Muslim rebel positions in the east of the island for a second week as more Army reinforcements were flown in.

Security around airports, ports, bus terminals, shopping malls and foreign embassies has been increased amid fears that the bombing campaign may be part of a wider, coordinated effort by the militant Abu Sayyaf group which Washington and Manila say has direct links to the al-Qaeda network.

Six people were killed and 94 injured when a powerful bomb ripped through a bus in the Makati financial district of Manila during the early evening rush hour.

It followed a bomb blast at a bus terminal in Davao City, which left one person dead, and nine others injured. 

That bombing came within minutes of another deadly bomb blast outside a shopping mall in General Santos, also on Mindanao, where five people were killed and 33 wounded.

Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for all three bombings and warned of further attacks.

The bombings came nearly a year after the group firebombed a passenger ferry in Manila Bay, killing more than 100 people in the worst known terrorist attack in the Philippines.

In a radio broadcast, Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Solaiman linked the new attacks to the fighting in Jolo where the military says thousands of troops have surrounded around 300 gunmen holed up in the mountains.

The military says 25 soldiers and 50 Muslim rebels have been killed in the week-long clashes. It says the fighters are from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) separatist group who have teamed up with local Abu Sayyaf members.

Col. Buenaventura Pascual, a spokesman for the Philippine military, said the Abu Sayyaf was “exploiting” the military operations in Jolo “to make it appear that Muslims are being targeted and aggravated.” 

“But this is not justified,” Pascual said, saying the conflict in Mindanao was “isolated” and should not be treated as “a fight between Muslims and Christians.” 

At first light on Feb. 15, a Philippine Air Force C-130 transport aircraft brought extra reinforcements to Jolo while injured soldiers were flown out.

According to reports, between 3,000 and 3,500 Islamic fighters from nearby provinces have arrived in Jolo to give support to the rebels loyal to jailed MNLF leader, Nur Misuari. The report, however, has not been confirmed.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said that authorities were looking into the possibility the order for the Jolo uprising may have come from Misuari himself using a cell phone from his detention quarters at a military camp on the outskirts of Manila.

“We cannot say he has direct culpability but we have strong indications and the members of the MNLF Central Committee themselves are the ones saying Misuari was able to contact his followers,” Ermita said. (MNS)