Bomb scare hits Zamboanga City Hall

Zamboanga City Hall. (Mindanao Examiner)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 16, 2010) – Police and military authorities have evacuated the Zamboanga City hall after receiving threats that a bomb had been planted and would explode at any time.

More than 1,000 civil employees were forced to abandon their posts Friday because of the threats, but soldiers and policemen who searched the building in downtown Zamboanga found no explosives.

Security and local officials blamed pranksters for the undue alarm. Zamboanga City had been previously bombed many times by the al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf group.

"There was no bomb. It was a hoax. This is the handiwork of pranksters, but nonetheless we have seen how ready our security forces and paramedics in handling this kind of situation. The whole evacuation of civil workers was orderly and the area was immediately secured and the city hall searched thoroughly," said Army Colonel Santiago Baluyot, commander of an anti-terror task force.

He said police and military authorities have stepped security in Zamboanga City.

The Abu Sayyaf group was also implicated in many kidnappings-for-ransom in Zamboanga City and other parts of Mindanao, including a cross-border raid in 2001 in Malaysia’s state of Sabah near the Filipino province of Tawi-Tawi.

The US Embassy has warned its citizens not to travel to Sabah because of threats of attacks by the Abu Sayyaf and in the past also told Americans not to travel to Zamboanga City and in many parts of Mindanao, including Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi provinces. (Mindanao Examiner)

Bag left in Zambo store yields ammo

Police in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines disrupted Friday, March 13, 2009 a backpack suspected to contain an improvised explosive device, but the bag turned out to be full of M16 rifle ammunition. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Jung Francisco)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 13, 2009) – Police in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines disrupted a backpack suspected to contain an improvised explosive device, but the bag turned out to be full of M16 rifle ammunition.

The bag was left at the baggage counter of a City Mart department store in downtown Zamboanga. It was the second time that police responded to calls of suspicious packages left at department stores.

On Thursday, police explosives’ experts also disrupted a package thought to contain a bomb at another department store, Shopper’s Central, here. The package, addressed to Al Yamamah Hospital in Saudi Arabia, contained only grocery items.

Early this week, police here detonated improvised explosives made from 81mm mortar bomb planted in the village of Guiwan and Culianan. (Jung Francisco)

Zambo, alarmado sa bomb attack

Nililitratuhan ng isang miyembro ng police bomb squad ang package na may hinihinalang bomba, ngunit suka lamang pala ang laman nito. iniwan ang package sa baggage counter ng Shopper's Central sa Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Jung Francisco)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 12, 2009) – Nagkagulo kahapon sa Zamboanga City matapos na mapabalitang may bombing iniwan sa baggage counter ng isang malaking department store sa downtown area.

Ang hinihinalang bomba ay nasa isang package na naka-address kay Datu Morsid Mohamad sa Zamboanga City at ang pinanggalingan pa nito ay sa Al Yamamah Hospital sa Saudi Arabia.

Naalarma ang guwardiya matapos na walang kumuha sa nasabing package sa Shopper’s Central at agad na humingi ng tulong sa pulisya. Mabilis rin pinasara ang nasabing department store sa takot na sumabog ang package.

Ngunit ng ito’y buksan ng bomb squad ng pulisya ay isang galong suka at kanin lamang ang laman. Hindi naman mabatid kung sino ang nagiwan ng package, ngunit ang binomba na noon ng Abu Sayyaf ang SAhopper’s Central kung kaya’t ganoon na lamang ang takot ng mga naroroon.

Kamakalawa lamang ay dalawang lugar sa Zamboanga City – ang Barangay Guiwan at Culianan – ang pinagtaniman ng bomba na gawa mula sa 81mm mortar. (Jung Francisco)

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)

Police Detonates Suspicious Bag In Southern Philippines

Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, commander of police forces in Sulu province in southern Philippines, gestures as he points Saturday, June 14, 2008 to where a bag was left. Police bomb experts detonated the bag on suspicion it contained an explosive, but all they found were pieces of papers. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 14, 2008) – Police detonated late Saturday a bag left hanging on a street lamp on suspicion it contained a bomb, officials said.
A police bomb expert carefully removed the bag and put it on the middle of the road in downtown Jolo and detonated it. The bag turned out to contain only pieces of rolled newspapers, said Sulu police chief, Julasirim Kasim.
“We thought it was a bomb. Somebody phoned us to say that a man left the bag hanging on the street lamp. It is better to be vigilant,” Kasim told the Mindanao Examiner.
Police said it used a small piece of plastic explosive to detonate the bag near the Catholic Church in Jolo town. The blast caused a small crater about four inches in diameter on the road. Policemen surrounded the area to prevent locals from going near the site and trucks cordoned off roads around the place as they searched for suspicious package or bags nearby.
Jolo was previously bombed by the Abu Sayyaf group which is holding a television reporter Ces Drilon and her cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion, including a university professor Octavio Dinampo. They were seized June 8 in Maimbung town while on their way to interview a senior Abu Sayyaf leader Radulan Sahiron who has sent surrender feelers.
A second cameraman Angelo Valderama was freed on Thursday after negotiators headed by Indanan town mayor Isnaji Alvarez paid an unspecified amount of ransom. The gang is demanding up to P50 million ransoms. (Mindanao Examiner)

Abandoned Baggage Triggers Panic In Zamboanga

Filipino shoppers walk past government soldiers guarding Monday Aug. 27, 2007 a department store in downtown Zamboanga City, south of the Philippines, where police explosive experts disrupted an abandoned luggage thought to contain a bomb. The luggage turned out to contain a small electric fan and clothes. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 27 Aug) – Police explosive experts detonated Monday a luggage thought to contain a bomb in the southern Filipino port city of Zamboanga, where 14 people were injured in a recent bomb attack.

Police immediately recovered what was left of the luggage left outside the OK Bazaar and later said it contained a small electric fan.

Several small stores have also closed early in downtown Zamboanga because of reports that a bomb had exploded.

“It was only an electric fan. Our bomb sniffing dog acted on the presence of carbon and electronic components of the fan so we disrupted the luggage just to be sure, in case it turned out to be an IED,” one police explosive expert said.

Last week, a bomb attack believed carried out by the Abu Sayyaf group tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terrorists wounded 14 people in downtown Zamboanga City.

Army Colonel Nonito Peralta said the bomb used in last week’s attack was a cocktail of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. No group claimed responsibility for the blast.

Troops were spotted Sunday guarding malls and department stores in downtown Zamboanga.

Security forces were battling Abu Sayyaf militants in nearby Basilan island, where two soldiers had been wounded in clashes at the weekend.

More than five dozen soldiers were killed in the fighting in the southern Philippines since last month. (Mindanao Examiner)