Police disarm bomb planted in bus in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 4, 2009) – Police disarmed an improvised explosive planted in a commuter bus in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, reports said Saturday.

Reports said a boy cleaning the bus discovered the explosive under a seat late Friday and told police about the bomb. The explosive resembled a pipe bomb and attached to batteries and timer, a report by the ABS-CBN said.

“The boy was alarmed to see batteries and wires sticking out of the package, prompting him to call the police. Elements of the Zamboanga Bomb Squad confirmed that the plastic bag contained an improvised explosive device, which they quickly dismantled,” the report quoted Chief Inspector Diomarie Albarico, of the local police force, as saying.

Police said the bus came from Pagadian City.

Zamboanga City had been previously bombed by the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who are fighting for a separate Muslim homeland. (Mindanao Examiner)

Police Detains 2 Pranskters, Who Joked About Bombs Inside Mindanao Mall

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 19, 2008) – Philippine police arrested two people for cracking a joke about bombs at a mall in Tagum City in Mindanao Island, officials said Friday.

Officials said the two - Melanie Fuentes, 18, and Jenry Lopez, 36 – were detained on Wednesday. Mall security guards informed the police that the two told them they had bombs in their bags as they were being frisked at the entrance.

Shoppers who heard what the two told security about the bomb panicked. The two, who were arrested inside the New City Commercial Center, said they were just joking.

Police said no bombs were found from the two, but they would be charged with public scandal. (Romy Bwaga)

Abandoned Baggage Triggers Panic Inside Davao Mall

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 15, 2008) – An abandoned baggage suspected to contain a bomb had caused panic inside a shopping mall in the southern Philippine city of Davao, police said Saturday.

Police said shoppers rushed out of the New City Commercial Center for fear the baggage had a bomb, but its contents turned out to be pieces of broken wires and stones.

It was unknown how the baggage was able to pass through the mall security guards, but police blamed pranksters as behind it. Davao City had been previously bombed by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels. (Romy Bwaga)

Authorities Tighten Security In Davao City

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 28, 2008) – Police tightened security in Davao City on Thursday following the discovery of a homemade bomb near a school, officials said.

Police said the explosive, assembled from an 81mm mortar rocket, was found Wednesday afternoon abandoned near the Vicente Hizon Elementary School in Sasa district.

Chief Inspector Joselito Loriza, head of Sasa police force, said more policemen were deployed in schools and other public places as part of its heightened security.

Previous bombings in Davao City had been largely blamed to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya. (Romy Bwaga)

Philippine Troops Intercept Bomb, Detain 2 Men

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 12, 2008) – Philippine soldiers intercepted a homemade bomb and detained two men transporting the explosive in the province of Shariff Kabunsuan in Mindanao, officials said.

Officials said the soldiers discovered the bomb after stopping a commuter van at a checkpoint in the villager of Maker in Datu Odin Sinsuat town before dawn Wednesday.

Soldiers also questioned several passengers on suspicion they were part terrorists and handed them over to the local police for further interrogation. “We still don’t know anything about the suspects or their backgrounds. Authorities are investigating the suspects,” Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the Manila Times.

He said soldiers recovered two kilos of TNT explosive, a 60mm mortar rocket, electronic blasting caps and wires, galvanized iron nails and a cellular phone used as a detonator to trigger explosion.

Ando said civilian informants provided intelligence that led to the arrest of the suspects, including the van’s driver and one of the passengers. He did not say how many passengers were on board the van or whether other weapons had been recovered from the vehicle.

The military have repeatedly warned that terrorists may launch a series of attacks in retaliation to the killing of a purported Jemaah Islamiya bomber in the country's troubled south.

Southern Philippines military officials had said that soldiers recovered the body of man thought to be Dulmatin on a remote village in Tawi-Tawi province last month.

But DNA test by the Philippine National Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is yet to confirm whether the body was really that of Dulmatin, one of those who masterminded the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, 25 Britons and seven US citizens.

Filipino security officials had also said that Dulmatin was killed in previous government offensives in the southern Philippines.

Indonesian police said Dulmatin, half-Javanese and half-Arabic, was the man who mixed and assembled the 500kg bomb that destroyed the Sari Club during the Bali attack.

Dulmatin's assassination would be the biggest breakthrough in the hunt for the remaining Bali bombers the past years. Another Bali bomber, Umar Patek, is believed hiding in Sulu or Tawi-Tawi province under the protection of the local Abu Sayyaf group.

Philippine authorities last month also claimed to have uncovered a plot by the Jemaah Islamiya, the Abu Sayyaf, the New People's Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to assassinate President Gloria Arroyo and other high government officials. (With a report from Mark Navales)

Troops Foil New Bombing In South RP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 26, 2007) – Government forces heightened security in Sulu province, south of Manila, after soldiers detonated a homemade bomb planted by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants, officials said Wednesday.

Officials said the bomb was left outside the Helen’s Lodge, a budget motel in Jolo town and detonated by soldiers Monday.

No group claimed responsibility for the foiled bombing, but government forces were put in red alert to thwart possible bombings during the holidays.

A homemade bomb exploded on Monday outside a barber shop in Cotabato City, wounding three people.

It was unknown if the attack was connected to the foiled bombing in Sulu, where security forces are pursuing Abu Sayyaf and rogue members of the Moro National Liberation Front which signed a peace deal with Manila in 1996.

But three civilians and a soldier were also killed in fighting over the weekend in Sulu’s Kalingalan Caluang town between military and rebel forces. At least 17 people, including five soldiers were also wounded in the clash on Saturday in the village of Pangdan-pangdan.

Fighting also erupted last month in Kalingalan Caluang town that left eight soldiers and four rebels dead.

The Abu Sayyaf have been blamed for past attacks and kidnappings-for-money in the southern Philippines, while the MNLF signed a peace deal with Manila in 1996, but many were disgruntled with the accord and joined other rebel groups.

The MNLF has repeatedly accused the government of reneging on the agreement, which Manila strongly denied. Under the peace deal, the Philippine would have provided a mini-Marshall plan and livelihoods and housing to tens of thousands of rebels.

In 2001, MNLF gunmen, who were loyal supporters of Nur Misuari, attacked and tried to capture a major military base in Sulu province and another group seized more than 100 people in Zamboanga City.

After the attacks, MNLF chieftain Nur Misuari fled to Sabah by boat, but was captured by Malaysian authorities and eventually deported to the Philippines. (Nickee Butlangan)

Soldiers disarm IED in Southern Philippines

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 17, 2007) – Philippines soldiers disarmed Saturday a powerful bomb planted in downtown Cotabato City in the southern Muslim region of Mindanao, officials said.

Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a regional army spokesman, said the bomb, assembled from an 81mm mortar shell, was discovered by civilians at around 6 a.m. and reported it to authorities.

The bomb, he said, was hidden in a cigarette box when it was discovered. No group or individual claimed ownership of the bomb.

But Filipino authorities blamed previous bombings in the city to the Abu Sayyaf and local militants with ties to the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya terror network and rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“Our soldiers disarmed the IED and we still don’t know who was behind this, but we have alerted our forces to stay vigilant,” Ando told the Mindanao Examiner.

The discovery of the bomb came ahead of a state of the region speech Monday by Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan in Cotabato City. It was unknown if the bomb was intended to disrupt Ampatuan’s address.

His father, Andal Ampatuan, governor of Maguindanao, also escaped a grenade attack in July in one of his bungalows in Cotabato City.

Ampatuan also escaped an assassination attempt in June when a bomb exploded near his convoy in Shariff Aguak town, but 5 people were killed in the attack, including the politician's nephew.

In 2002, one of his sons, Saudi Ampatuan, a town mayor, was killed in a bombing in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao province and his family blamed the attack to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels.

On Friday, policemen and soldiers also mounted a massive search for two men who tried to kill an agriculture official in Cotabato City.

One of the men lobbed a grenade on a car carrying Osmeña Montanier, finance chief of the Department of Agriculture in Mindanao. The grenade failed to explode, police and military said.

Police said Montanier was on his way to office in Cotabato City at around 1.30 p.m. when one of two men on motorcycle tossed the grenade into the car, but it hit a tire and rolled to the pavement.

No group claimed responsibility for the failed assassination. Cotabato City is one of the most dangerous places in Mindanao where extra-judicial killings were not uncommon.

Cotabato City has been previously attacked and police and military authorities blamed Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya terrorists and rebels for the spate of bombings that left dozens of people dead over the past years.

Aside from terrorists and rebels, extortion syndicates also operate in Cotabato City, once tagged by the United States as a “doormat” of terrorists in the southern Philippines.

The tag caused the suspension of a P54-million road project funded by the US Agency for International Development, saying, terrorist and rebel groups might use the project for their illegal activities.

Several foreigners with alleged links to al-Qaeda and Jemaah islamiya had been arrested in Cotabato City in the past. (Mindanao Examiner)

Zamboanga Town Hall Bombed

IPIL, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 05, 2007) – A crude bomb planted on a municipal building in southern Philippines exploded, but the military on Monday said there have been no reports of deaths.

Officials said the blast caused little damage to the façade of the building in the town of Talusan in Zamboanga Sibugay province.

The explosion late Sunday destroyed the door of the building housing the Association of Village Chairmen, said Army Maj. Eugene Batara, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command.

“We are still investigating the motive of the attack and who was behind it,” Batara told the Mindanao Examiner.

Army Colonel Joven Magalso, commander of 102nd Infantry Brigade in the province, said they have deployed soldiers in the area to help police forces patrol the town.

“The blast could be related to last month’s village polls. We are coordinating with the police to track down the perpetrator,” he said in a separate interview.

Police said dozens of people were killed and wounded in poll-related violence in the Philippines. Elections in the country are traditionally bloody. (Joseph Danda)

4 Killed In Explosion In Restive Philippine Island

JOLO ISLAND (Mindanao Examiner / 21 Jul) – A powerful explosion killed four people and wounded two others at dawn Saturday in the restive southern island of Jolo, where US-backed Filipino troops are hunting down Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants, officials said.

Officials said the blast ripped through a house in downtown Jolo island where its occupants were allegedly assembling homemade bombs.

Other reports said six people had died from the explosion.

But Army Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan, commander of an anti-terrorist task force in Jolo, said four people were killed in the explosion at around 3.30 a.m.

“Initial reports said the blast inside the house was apparently accidental after a dynamite suddenly exploded, wounding two persons,” Pabustan told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said the explosives would probably be used in illegal fishing, which is rampant in the Sulu Sea.

Pabustan has ordered security forces to arrest those involved in illegal fishing and individuals engaged in selling explosives and chemicals used in the manufacture of homemade bombs.

Troops are battling the Moro National Liberation Front rebels and members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and the Jemaah Islamiya on the island.

Hundreds of US troops are stationed in Jolo island and helping local troops fight terroris.

Soldiers in April seized 600 kilos of ammonium nitrate from a mini-bus in Jolo’s Panamao town.

The chemical is widely used in the manufacture of homemade explosives in the troubled southern Philippine region. It was the second time that troops seized such chemical. In Zamboanga City, soldiers manning a checkpoint also recovered 25 kilos of ammonium nitrate from a passenger bus during a security check.

The chemical, concealed in a cardboard box, was discovered by soldiers in a bus at military checkpoint in the village of Mati in the outskirts of Zamboanga also in April. (Mindanao Examiner)

SMS Warns Of Terror Attacks In South RP

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 31 May) – Police doused off public fears of terror attacks in General Santos City in the southern Philippines after cell phone text messages warned of an impending bombings by the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiya.

It was unknown who spread the text messages, but police assured the public that there was no such threat. Police headquarters here have been flooded by calls about the threats.

The text message warned that a blue motorcycle would be used by terrorists to launch attack in General Santos. The bike, it said, would come from Maguindanao province.

Police said it would be impossible for the motorcycle to pass through layers of security and road blocks in General Santos City.

Officials appealed to the public to stay calm and vigilant. General Santos has been bombed many times in the past that killed and wounded scores of civilians. (Romy Bwaga)

RP Police Foils Bomb Attack In Troubled South

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 29 Apr) – Philippine soldiers detonated a homemade bomb Sunday in the restive North Cotabato province, south of Manila, officials said.

Officials said the bomb was left near a police post in Tacurong City, but had been discovered before it was to explode. “Soldiers detonated the bomb after police manning the post discovered the explosive,” Maj. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the independent regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

No group claimed responsibility for the foiled attack, said Col. Danny Garcia, the local army commander.

“We are still investigating who is behind this failed bombing attempt,” Garcia said in a separate interview. “At this point, we cannot pinpoint to any group, but we have tightened security around Tacurong.”

He said the bomb was made from C4 explosive and rigged to a timer. “It had steel pellets and some components taken from a mortar rocket that would trigger detonation,” Garcia said.

The discovery of the bomb came just a day after the United States warned its citizens against traveling to Mindanao island and the Sulu Archipelago in the southern Philippines because of heightened terror activities.

Aside from the United States, Canada an Australia also told their citizens not to travel to the troubled region, where security forces are battling members of the al-Qaeda affiliate Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya and Moro National Liberation Front rebels.

A grenade attack last week in North Cotabato’s Pikit town injured three people working for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Unidentified men tossed two grenades on the USAID field office and fled. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Another bomb attack last week in Midsayap town also in North Cotabato also injured one civilian. A man was also killed after a bomb he was transporting exploded in Cotabato City in Maguindanao province near North Cotabto.

Abu Sayyaf militants also beheaded six construction workers and a fisherman they kidnapped in Parang town in Jolo island in the Sulu Archipelago two weeks ago. (With a report from Mark Navales and Juan Magtanggol)

Frenchman Held In Philippine Airport Over Bomb Claims

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 22 Feb) – Philippine airport authorities arrested a Frenchman and charged him Thursday after he joked that his baggage contained a bomb inside a Bangkok-bound plane in Manila.

The 66-year old Michel Christian Joseph Brionne denied uttering the joke late Wednesday while cabin attendants of the Cebu Pacific flight were making their routine headcount.

Brionne said he was misheard by a Cebu Pacific cabin crew member, who reported the matter to the police.

Authorities said the flight was delayed for more than three hours. “The Frenchman was heard telling a cabin crew that there is a bomb in his baggage,” said Angel Atutubo, head of airport security. “The man was charged on Thursday for alarming the passengers.”

Brionne was charged for violating Presidential Decree 1727, or making a false declaration of explosives possession, which carries a jail term of up to six years.Authorities said Brionne was with a Filipino woman. There was no immediate statement from the French embassy in Manila about Brionne’s arrest. (Mindanao Examiner)

Soldiers Alerted For Car Bombs In Southern Philippines

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 21 Jan) – Security forces were in heightened alert following the recovery of a car laden with explosives on a village in Maguindanao province, south of the Philippines.

The car was discovered abandoned in Pagatin village in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town on Friday. “Civilians, alarmed by a possible terror attack, informed patrolling soldiers about the suspicious car,” Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said troops put up additional road blocks and checkpoints on highways around Maguindanao to prevent the entry of explosives. "The car may have been abandoned because of strict security on the road," he said.

No group claimed ownership of the car, but the province is a known stronghold of Moro rebels and had been used by the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya as a springboard for terror attacks. Aside from rebels and terrorists, private armies of politicians also operate in the area.

Ando did not give details about the explosives recovered from the car, but the Philippine News Agency, quoted the official as saying that troops recovered as many as six 81mm and 60mm mortar bombs and a 90mm anti-tank rocket, including 220 pounds of metal shards contiguous to the main bomb mechanism.

Just this month, a series of bomb explosions killed at least 7 people and wounded more than 40 others in the southern cities of General Santos, Cotabato and Kidapawan, which police and military blamed to rouge leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya.

The Abu Sayyaf previously used motorcycles, cars and bicycles laden with explosives to attack civilian targets in the volatile region. (Mindanao Examiner)

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)