Philippine police on Tuesday ruled out bomb attack as the cause behind last Friday's shopping mall explosion as they found no bomb indicators at the ruins site, local media reported.
According to local news network GMA Tv, as of Tuesday morning, police have found no traces of improvised explosive device component nor crater in the debris at the entrance of Glorietta shopping mall in downtown Metro Manila.
Director Geary Barias, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said the deadly blast was more likely triggered by gas that leaked from the mall's basement, where police found no ventilation for air circulation, the report said.
The blast on last Friday afternoon left 11 people dead and scores others injured.
Meanwhile, Radio dzBB said Director Gen. Avelino Razon, Philippine National Police chief, told an emergency meeting chaired by President Gloria Macapacal-Arroyo that investigators have not dismissed the bombing angle even though they have yet to recover any bomb components.
Razaon was quoted as saying that the probe has not been concluded and that all possible angles were being checked. He said the police forces were still waiting for inputs from forensics experts who have been helping examine the blast site.
Source: Xinhua
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