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.

Arroyo visits victims of twin bombings in Iligan

ILIGAN CITY (PHILIPPINES) President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday visited the people injured in two bombings in a southern Philippine city.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said Arroyo went to Iligan City in Lanao del Norte province, 855 kilometres south of Manila, and visited the hospital where 41 people wounded in the attacks were being treated. Arroyo also visited the funeral home where two fatalities from the twin bombings were taken. Police officials said only two people, not six as earlier reported by city officials, were killed in the bombings of the Jerry Bargain Centre and Unicity Mall.

Investigators said the bombs were left at the baggage counters of the two shopping malls by women wearing veils. Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, who are active in the province, denied involvement in the bombings. Eid Kabalu, MILF civil relations chief, said he talked with rebel commanders operating in Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur and all of them said they had nothing to do with the attacks.

“There must be a thorough investigation before blaming groups like us,” he said. “We express our sympathies to the families of the victims.” The MILF is the largest Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate Islamic state in the southern region of Mindanao.

Hostilities between the military and the rebel group flared in August when the guerrillas launched a series of deadly attacks after a setback in peace talks with the government.