CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY–Authorities recovered various materials believed to be used in assembling improvised explosive device in a village in Bukidnon Thursday morning, police said.
According to Police Supt. Lemuel Gonda, spokesperson for the Philippine National Police in Region 10, personnel from the Police Mobile Force Company responded to a call by residents regarding the presence of two suspicious-looking persons at Purok 5, Barangay Lumbo, Valencia City in Bukidnon.
When the responding police officers arrived in the village, the two persons fled the area but left sacks full of various bomb-making materials.
Police believe the items belong to the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in Bukidnon and nearby areas.
Among the items found were 21 improvised hand grenades, five pieces improvised anti-personnel clamor mines, three PVC pipes; 52-meter long electrical wire; three kilograms of soluble fertilizer; 200 grams of asupre, a chemical substance; a kilogram of ANFO (ammonium nitrite, fuel oil), four pieces dynamite; 60 pieces improvised electric blasting cap; 240 kilograms steel cut fragments (round bars); and 370-meter safety fuse.
Gonda said Northern Mindanao, especially the region’s major urban areas such as Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, remains on high alert following reports of imminent attacks by terrorist groups and armed insurgents. (Jigger J. Jerusalem/PNA)
