Homemade bombs detonated in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 9, 2009) – Police detonated Monday improvised explosives planted in two areas in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.

No groups claimed responsibility in the foiled attacks in the villages of Guiwan and Culianan. One explosive was left on a road near a bus depot in Guiwan and the other on an abandoned building in Culianan.

Police said civilians discovered the bombs and informed authorities about the explosives. “The bomb left on a road in Guiwan was powerful,” one police bomb expert said.

In January, policemen also disarmed a powerful improvised explosive assembled from an 81-mm mortar left near the same bus terminal.

Last year, a series of bombings blamed on the Abu Sayyaf and Moro Islamic Liberation Front were also reported in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)

Two killed in blast in South RP

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 01, 2009) – Two men were killed after a powerful homemade bomb exploded Sunday inside their house in the southern Filipino island of Sulu, police said.

Police said three others, two of them childre, were wounded in the blast that occurred in the coastal town of Patikul. The house was also damaged from the explosion.

“The two men were known manufacturers of homemade explosives used in illegal fishing,” Senior Supt. Julasirim Kasim, the island’s police, told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said explosion decapitated the body of one of the victim and the second man died in hospital. “This should serve as a warning to fishermen not to resort to blast fishing because not only it is illegal, it is also dangerous and deadly,” Kasim said.

Kasim said they found ammonium nitrate used by the victims in manufacturing homemade explosives. He said the two men came from Tawi-Tawi Island and had been renting the house since last week.

The chemicals are widely used as fertilizer and an ingredient to homemade explosive common in blast fishing.

The Philippines in 2002 has banned imports of ammonium nitrate over fears it is being used in explosives, but the chemicals are also being smuggled by unscrupulous into the country from the Malaysian state of Sabah that borders the island of Tawi-Tawi. (Mindanao Examiner)

Homemade Bomb Found In Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 11, 2008) – A homemade bomb was discovered Thursday near a government building in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, police said.

Police said the crude bomb was found by two children near the city council building shortly before 6 a.m. The bomb was made from ammonium nitrate and put inside a container attached to a wire and a clock.

Police said the bomb was inside a backpack when it was discovered by children hours before the start of the city council session.

“I saw the bomb, I saw the wires because I was there when policemen were inspecting the bomb,” one radio reporter said. “Police said the ammonium nitrate was about three kilos.”

Authorities wanted to question the children to find out where they exactly discovered the bomb. No groups or individual claimed responsibility for the aborted bombing.

Last week, Police seized at least 10,000 blasting caps and 3,000 meters of detonating cords from a warehouse in Zamboanga City.

Police said the materials were shipped from Manila, but remained unclaimed. It was not immediately known whether the cargo was intended to any rebel group in the southern Philippines, where security forces are battling the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Blasting caps are also widely used in illegal fishing in the restive region. Blasting cap is a small explosive device generally used to detonate larger, more powerful explosive and commonly used in mining.

In May, a marine patrol also intercepted a small boat transporting more than 280 bags of ammonium nitrate and dozens of blasting caps at a wharf near the village of Buanza in the southern town of Indanan. Ammonium nitrate, which is commonly used as a fertilizer, is also an ingredient to homemade explosive common in blast fishing in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)