Friday, July 09, 2004 Zambo cops recover 2 bombs in coastal village By Jun Feliciano and Nelly Martinez
ZAMBOANGA -- Police hoisted its alert status after two improvised explosives were recovered at a mangrove area in a coastal village Thursday.
Explosive Incident Reaction Team (EIRT) chief Supt. Jose Bayani Gucela detonated the explosives using water.
Gucela said one of the explosives is "pipe type" while the other is made up from .81 mm projectile mortar, placed inside a biscuit can, imported from Malaysia.
Gucela said the bombs, which have timing devices each and placed inside a sack, was spotted by residents of Sitio Kapok, Mampang village, at around 6:00 a.m.
The bomb were recovered and disarmed by the authorities around 9 a.m. after the Police Action Center sought assistance of the EIRT operatives.
Gucela described the bombs to have dual priming each has an attached battery to trigger the explosion. However, the bomb experts said the batteries attached were no longer functioning. The authorities admitted though that the bombs are intended to harm people.
Zamboanga City Police Office director Supt. Mario Yanga said the bombs might be intended for Zamboanga or other places nearby.
The authorities said the bombs were similar to those used in Jolo, Sulu, and those found after the Cabatangan incident.
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