Another explosive found in Iligan City

Ordnance squad members secure an 81mm explosive contained in a bomb bag (left) in Iligan City, southern Philippines, yesterday

Iligan City, A second unexploded bomb was recovered in a southern Philippine city yesterday, three days after twin explosions killed three people, police said.
The explosive, made from an 81mm mortar shell, was found in a garbage dump in Iligan City, 810km south of Manila, police said.

It was the second unexploded bomb found in the city since two shopping centres were bombed on Thursday, killing three people and injured scores.
On Friday, a bomb was found inside a bakery just hours after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo left the city.

Arroyo visited the victims of Thursday’s explosion.
Police investigators said the same group was believed to be responsible for all incidents.

Authorities said no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they noted that the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) operates in the area.
The MILF denied involvement in the bombings.
The MILF has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines since 1978.

Meanwhile, the European Union yesterday announced an additional 2.5mn-euro assistance to thousands of civilians displaced by hostilities in the southern Philippines.

The new funding is on top of 7mn euros approved in October for short-term humanitarian assistance and long-term rehabilitation aid in the southern region of Mindanao.

Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the Delegation of the European Commission in the Philippines, said the additional aid would ensure continued care for the displaced.

“The situation remains very serious with some 310,000 persons still displaced and with almost 60,000 of those taking shelter in evacuation centres, which are by no means adequate for anything more than short-term relief,” he said.

“Many of the IDPs (internally displaced persons) have been in evacuation centres for five months now, with little prospect of being able to return to their homes while the risk of conflict remains,” he added.

The hostilities worsened when MILF rebels launched a series of attacks to protest a Supreme Court decision to stop the signing of a key agreement that would have expanded an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

More than 200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in those attacks and subsequent fighting. More than 500,000 people were also displaced at the height of the fighting.

The EU reiterated its call for the Philippine government and the MILF to resume stalled peace talks to prevent more violence in Mindanao.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had dissolved the government’s peace negotiating panel with the MILF due to the fighting in August.

Earlier in the month, Arroyo appointed a new chief negotiator with the MILF in what could be the first step towards resuming the peace talks with the rebel group.