Police eye Abu Sayyaf in Lamitan City IED blast
November 9, 2017 | 12:35am
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — An improvised bomb exploded Tuesday night in a village of Lamitan City, Basilan and brought tension to the neighborhood, police said.
Responding elements of the 64th Infantry Battalion and Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit recovered another improvised explosive device (IED) on the scene.
According to Basilan Provincial Police Office reports, the IED exploded about 6:30p.m in the compound of the 2M Construction Firm in Sitio Lagasan, Barangay Kulay Bato, near the city's port area.
The bomb attack was the second in the last three years. The Abu Sayyaf group is believed to have been behind an improvised bomb that exploded in the same area in September 2014.
Police said nobody was reported hurt in the explosion on Tuesday night.
Investigators believe the bomb attack was meant to harass the firm and make it pay the Abu Sayyaf extortion money.
The city government of Lamitan urged the local business group not to submit to the terrorist group and assured it that police and military units are going after the Abu Sayyaf.
Mayor Gulam Boy Hataman of Sumisip town said the Abu Sayyaf group is now on the run and has been reduced to thuggery.
“Cutting any support from these people would eventually dislodge the existence of the Abu Sayyaf group in the province,” Hataman said.
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is also completing a 55-kilometer transcentral road network that is meant to bring commerce, security and government services closer to remote parts of Basilan.
The regional government kicked off the road network's second phase — which cuts through Sampinit Complex, an Abu Sayyaf hideout — last weekend.
The concreting of the 14-kilometer road, which is the remaining part of the 55-kilometer transcentral road, will be done by the district engineering office under engineer Soler Undog as a project of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao-Department of Public Works and Highway.
BrandSpace Articles
<
>
Philstar
- Latest
- Trending
Trending
Latest
Trending
By Mark Ernest Villeza | 1 day ago
By Bella Cariaso | 1 day ago
By Mark Ernest Villeza | 1 day ago
By John Unson | 10 hours ago
Latest
By Rhodina Villanueva | 3 hours ago
3 hours ago
By Mark Ernest Villeza | 3 hours ago
By Sheila Crisostomo | 3 hours ago
Recommended
December 25, 2024 - 12:00am
16 hours ago
1 day ago
December 24, 2024 - 12:00am
