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Monday, December 22, 2008
Plot to bomb Iligan church foiled
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Police defused another powerful bomb hidden inside a papaya fruit that attackers may have intended to detonate Sunday at a Roman Catholic cathedral in Iligan City.
First Lieutenant Steffanie Cacho, information officer of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said a garbage boy found the improvised bomb around 10:10 a.m. at a vacant lot at the corner of Burgos and San Miguel Streets in downtown Iligan.
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Cacho said the bomb, fashioned from an 81 mm mortar round, was also concealed inside a papaya fruit, like the one planted last Saturday near a pharmacy. It was placed in a plastic bag left in the area.
She said the boy, who was not named, was scavenging for scrap materials when he saw the plastic bag.
Police and military ordnance team, however, safely defused the bomb, Cacho said. "This is the enemy of the state's continued effort to spread terror."
The would-be bombers may have planned to bring the bomb to the cathedral, which was packed with worshippers, but abandoned it at a lot about two blocks away due to heavy police presence in the church area, police Superintendent Celso Regencia said.
Police also checked an unattended bag, which scared passers-by at the Iligan Public plaza, but found no explosives, Regencia added.
Sunday's bombing attempt was the second after the twin explosion last Thursday that killed three people and injured 53 others.
The first attempt was last Friday wherein an improvised bomb was recovered near a pharmacy in downtown Iligan City. It was found hours after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo left Iligan.
President Arroyo was in Iligan Friday to console the victims and order authorities to hunt down and punish the bombers.
Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz said Muslim guerrillas, who resent Iligan officials' opposition to a plan to annex a part of the city to an expanded Muslim autonomous region, are among the suspects in the bombings.
He said about 100 policemen will be deployed this week to bolster the security of Iligan City amid a security scare that has dampened the usually vibrant Christmas holiday season in the industrial hub of more than 300,000 people.
"This is a crisis situation," Cruz said. "We should be at the height of the Christmas rush now but it feels gloomy."
The bomb attacks have prompted a security alert in metropolitan Manila, where police organized a mock bombing exercise at a crowded commuter train terminal Saturday.
The British Embassy again advised its nationals against traveling to Southern Mindanao due to terrorism and bomb attacks. (Bong Garcia/With AP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (December 22, 2008 issue)
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