Improvised bomb found near congressman’s resthouse
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/22/2009 6:20 PM
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MANILA - An improvised explosive device (IED) was disrupted by police in Zamboanga City Saturday after it was found near the office and resthouse of a partylist representative to Congress.
Superintendent Bayani Gucela, Police Regional Office 9 spokesman, said that the improvised bomb was found in a vacant lot in Barangay Lanzones past noon Saturday.
The police official said the IED was placed inside a plastic container and was reportedly hidden in a grassy portion of the lot which was reportedly 5 meters from the road. The improvised bomb was reportedly found by a group of men who were supposed to cut grass in the area.
Reportedly recovered were 4 rounds of 60mm mortar, almost a kilo of nails, ammonium nitrate and gasoline which were all packed as an IED. An electric cord was reportedly also connected to the IED with a switch which Gucela said indicated that the bomb was supposed to be detonated manually.
The area is 17 kilometers from Zamboanga City center but is near the resthouse and office of Anak Mindanao Rep. Mujiv Hataman.
Last March 2 bombs were also reportedly found and disrupted by authorities near Hataman’s property.
The caretaker of Hataman’s resthouse meanwhile said that the lawmaker last visited the area on October.
Gucela said they will let the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group probe if the congressman was the target of the aborted IED attack.
He said the IED found bore similarities to other improvised bombs that were recently found and disrupted in Lamitan City in Basilan and other areas of Zamboanga City.
The recovered components of the “disrupted” bomb were taken to the office of Zamboanga City’s bomb squad for further analysis. From a report of David Santos, ABS-CBN News Zamboanga
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