ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 14, 2013) – An abandoned bag thought to contain a homemade explosive briefly disrupted traffic late Sunday on a village in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.
Police dispatched a team of explosives expert and sealed off Alfaro Street in Tetuan village near downtown Zamboanga after receiving reports from civilians about the suspicious bag.
Policemen manned the traffic and diverted vehicles away from the area where the bag had been left unattended.
Members of the local bomb squad and their dogs cordoned off the area and inspected the bag, but it only contained clothes.
“Negative, thank goodness. It just contained clothes,” a member of the bomb squad told the Mindanao Examiner.
It was unknown who left the bag or whether it was deliberately abandoned to test how swiftly the police would react to such an emergency.
Zamboanga has been bombed many times in previous attacks largely blamed to rebels. (Mindanao Examiner)
20