BASILAN – Police and military have disarmed an improvised explosive left at a gas station in Isabela City in the restive southern Philippine province of Basilan, officials said Tuesday.
Inspector Dahlan Samuddin, a regional police spokesman, said two masked men on a motorcycle left a plastic bag containing the explosive at the ASL gasoline station.
He said the explosive, whose ingredient was mostly ammonium nitrate, and wired to a blasting cap and cell phone as triggering device, was inside a cooking pot when recovered by members of the local bomb squad late Monday.
“Post-blast investigation revealed that the IED was placed by two suspicious persons riding on red motorcycle – one wearing a bonnet and the other had a handkerchief covering his face – and they immediately fled,” Samuddin said. “The explosive was successfully disarmed and there is no reported damage to properties. Investigation is still going on.”
The foiled bombing occurred a day after the military’s Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City said troops assaulted an Abu Sayyaf bomb factory in Tipo-Tipo town where security forces are pursuing militants headed by Puruji Indama.
Military spokeswoman Captain Maria Rowena Muyuela also tagged Indama as behind the twin bombings in Zamboanga City recently.
“The main intent of the operation is to allay the fears of the civilians and local officials in view of the series of atrocities, kidnapping and extortion committed by the group of Indama,” Muyuela said. “This operation also shows the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police’s commitment to the people of Basilan to have lasting peace and development to this island province.”
She did not say if there were Abu Sayyaf casualties in the assault.
Security forces in Basilan also heightened their patrol following the foiled bombing. Police and military have earlier tightened security in Zamboanga City following the two bomb explosions at the Deluxe Massage and Karaoke Bar at Tomas Claudio Street that injured a member of the police bomb squad – PO2 Manuel Franklin Ined, Sr.
Police also released the facial composite of the alleged bomber based on the description of several witnesses. The mayor of Zamboanga, Maria Isabelle Salazar, offered a P50,000 to anyone who can provide information leading to the apprehension of the bomber.
Police have cordoned off the blast site shortly after the explosions and forensic experts recovered pieces of electrical wiring, dry cell and shrapnel believed to be parts of the bombs left inside the bar. Traces of ammonium nitrate were also found at the scene.
The blast occurred just as security forces deployed more personnel to guard some 7,500 who are attending the week-long Centennial Jamboree in Zamboanga City.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar has assured the safety of scouters who are camping out at the sprawling compound of the Zamboanga City Economic and Freeport Zone in San Ramon village where armed soldiers and policemen, backed by armored vehicles, were guarding them.
“The public is advised to stay calm, but vigilant and report suspicious persons or bags and other items to (emergency telephones) 117 or 166. Authorities are in control of the situation, that the city, particularly the Boy Scouts of the Philippines jamboree participants are safe and sound. The blast site is over 20 kilometers away from the jamboree site in Ecozone,” she said.
Last month, police bomb squad also disrupted an improvised explosive abandoned at the Plaza Pershing also in downtown Zamboanga. The explosive was hidden in a thermos that contained nails and ammonium nitrate, a banned chemical fertilizer widely used by rebels in the manufacture of homemade bombs. And several bomb explosions were also reported in Isabela City with one police report saying the bombers escaped on a pick-up truck.
The Abu Sayyaf, blamed by authorities to the spate of bombings and killings in the southern Philippines, has recently pledged allegiance to the jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. (Mindanao Examiner)
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