Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople today condemned the bombing last Friday of a military hospital in the southern Russian city of Mozdok. The front wall of the hospital collapsed after a suicide bomber drove a truck through its front gate on Friday night. Russian authorities today ended their three-day rescue efforts and confirmed that the death toll had risen to 50.

Speaking to reporters after opening the First Philippines-Iran Bilateral Conference on Dialogue Among Civilizations at the New World Hotel in Makati today, Secretary Ople said that this latest suicide bombing is particularly heinous as it was directed against a hospital.

“The Philippines condemns in the strongest possible terms this latest cowardly attack against a target that under humanitarian rules should not be the subject of armed action, even if it was a military hospital,” the Secretary said.  He added that “the terrorists who planned and carried out this dastardly act have shown that they have little regard for decency and human life and deserve nothing but our condemnation and contempt.”

“We extend to the government of Russia and to the relatives and friends of the victims, our profound sympathies and we express our hope for the safe and early recovery of those injured,” the Secretary said.

“We must all do our part in addressing and fighting terror,” the Secretary said.  Referring to the three-day Conference on Dialogue Among Civilizations that he had just opened, the Secretary said that the Philippine believes that fostering inter-faith dialogue and dialogue among civilizations is one way to address the fundamental issues and to clear the deep-seated misunderstandings that terrorists seek to exploit.

The Secretary also said that as part of the efforts of the Philippines to help fight global terrorism, the Philippines will be co-hosting with Russia a regional meeting on counter-terrorism.

Based on the leadership that the Philippines has shown in promoting international cooperation in combating terrorism, the ASEAN Regional Forum, during its meeting in Cambodia last June, selected the country to co-chair the second ARF Intersessional Support Meeting on Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime (ISM on CT-TC). Russia will co-chair this meeting.  The ISM on CT-TC is scheduled to be held next year and the Philippines has offered to host this meeting. END.