NPA ‘bomb factory’ yields 5 truckloads of explosives

DAVAO CITY — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) seized at least five truckloads of explosives from two nearby camps of the New People’s Army (NPA) they overran last weekend in the town of San Agustin, Surigao del Sur.

"This is a bomb factory. I do not think this is just a major camp of the NPA for Northeastern Mindanao. It serves the explosives requirements of the entire Mindanao commission of the communist insurgents," said Major Gen. Samuel Bagasin, chief of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division.

The explosives used by terrorists in Mindanao reportedly also came from the same ‘bomb factory’.

The five trucks reportedly carried explosive components including detonating cords, blasting caps, gunpowder, anti-tank rockets, grenades and guns that were found in one of the two caves in San Agustin that was used as camps by the NPA.

"We overran the two camps, one of which was used as a training camp while the other as ‘bomb factory,’ which was not just a small operations. I am amazed by the huge size of their operations and the quantity of the explosive components we seized," Bagasin added.

At least four NPA rebels were reportedly killed in an encounter with government troops in the same area last Sunday.

The 4th ID chief likewise said there were reports that the communist rebels overseeing the operation of the said ‘bomb factory’ were also actually selling improvised explosive device to suspected terrorists in the South.

"The explosive devices that the terrorists were using could also be coming from the same source in Surigao," Bagasin added.

The 8,000-strong NPA has been waging an armed struggle against the government for the past 36 years. Surigao and the other nearby provinces in the northeastern and southern portions of Mindanao are known to be the strongholds of NPA insurgents. – With Jaime Laude