ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 23, 2014) – Police recovered two Abu Sayyaf mortar bombs on a village in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines, officials said Friday.
Officials said the 60 mm mortars were recovered late Thursday afternoon hidden in a bush at Sitio Salom in San Roque village.
The recovery of the bombs came barely a week after joint army and police forces arrested an Abu Sayyaf bomber, Nujir Ahidji, in a raid May 17 at Southcom Village just outside the military’s Western Mindanao Command hosting US forces in Zamboanga City.
“The recovery of the mortar bombs was the result of intelligence operation,” Senior Inspector Joseph Ortega, a regional police spokesman, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
It was unknown who hid the bombs in the village, but Ortega said police are still investigating the Ahidji to determine the identities of other Abu Sayyaf militants hiding in Zamboanga.
The military said it is also hunting down militants in Zamboanga and nearby areas.
“The Western Mindanao Command and the Philippine National Police are jointly intensifying law enforcement operations in order to eliminate criminal activities through expeditious arrest of remaining leaders and members of the Abu Sayyaf Group and other lawless elements,” said Captain Maria Rowena Muyuela, a military spokeswoman.
The Western Mindanao Command is one of several military bases in southern Philippines where the US maintains a high-security facility under the command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines which is helping local troops fight terrorism.
Just earlier this month, police also captured a 36-year old Abu Sayyaf militant, Harijin Jinny, in downtown Zamboanga while working as a security guard on a store just outside the police headquarters.
Last month, police commandos raided an Abu Sayyaf hideout in Zamboanga’s Santa Maria village and killed 2 militants and captured 6 more following a firefight that wounded one policeman. Commandos recovered four .45-caliber pistols and three fragmentation grenades from the hideout. (Mindanao Examiner)
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