— LA Times: “Philippine city lives in constant terror”
— LA Times reports: “Zamboanga City is on the front lines of the Philippines’ fight against terrorists, located in the troubled south where Muslim militants have been battling troops and hitting civilian targets.”
— “Restaurant owner Lyra Quitay is blind in one eye. Her arms, chest and legs bear painful black scars and her right hand is so gnarled that it resembles a claw when she signs her name.”
— “In October 2001, a terrorist’s bomb ripped through the claustrophobic downtown market where Quitay runs a tiny kitchen, instantly killing her security guard and blowing a hole in her life.”
— “The guard had gone to investigate an abandoned duck egg cart; when he opened the lid on a pot, it exploded — ripping off his head and leaving Quitay with injuries so severe that she still wakes up crying at night.”
— “‘Every time I even hear the word ‘bomb’ I get nervous,’ said Quitay, 43. ‘It’s the trauma of living in Zamboanga City.'”
— “On the front lines of the Philippines’ campaign against terrorism, this bustling port city on the island of Mindanao has become an armed camp, a community under siege.”
— “At the heart of the violence is a network of Islamic terrorist groups waging war against the government of the predominantly Christian Philippine archipelago, using the jungle as cover to train recruits and organize strikes at will.”