Troops Alerted Over Recovery Of "Motorcycle Bomb" In Mindanao

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 24 Dec) – The Philippine military on Sunday raised the alert in the southern region of Mindanao after troops discovered a motorcycle laden with explosives near a government checkpoint.

A military report said the bike’s gas tank was filled with explosives when troops discovered it parked Saturday near their checkpoint in Esperanza town in Sultan Kudarat province, where the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya bombers were known to previously operate.

Military bomb experts also found picric acid inside the gas tank, which was rigged to an electronic timer and a blasting cap.

Picric acid is a poisonous, explosive yellow crystalline solid used in explosives, dyes, and antiseptics.

Aside from the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya, Moro Islamic Liberation Front and communist rebels were also operating in Sultan Kudarat.

“We have alerted our soldiers about this discovery,” the Philippine military chief General Hermogenes Esperon, said by phone from Manila.

On Thursday, President Gloria Arroyo approved a four-day unilateral Christmas truce in military offensive against the communist New People’s Army (NPA), but the military ordered soldiers to remain in alert for threats of attacks against civilian targets across the country during the holiday.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines recommended the cease-fire as a yuletide gesture. The truce took effect Sunday until Monday and December 31 to January 1.

Government forces remain in alert for possible attacks by other rebel groups or the Abu Sayyaf, which had been blamed for the spate of terrorism in troubled Mindanao.

Troops were tracking down Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani and two Jemaah Islamiya bombers Dulmatin and Umar Patek, who were believed hiding in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)