163 bombs made by leftist rebels seized in Agusan

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - The military today said it had discovered a huge cache of improvised bombs believed to be from a regional factory of the leftist New People's Army (NPA) in the southern Philippines.

Some 163 pieces of landmines were recovered in one of the biggest seizure by government troops on Wednesday at Kauswagan village, Loreto, a town of Agusan del Sur, said Captain Alberto Caber, spokesperson for the military 's Eastern Mindanao Command.

"The seized bombs have enough power that can kill or maim thousands and destroy a city when detonated at the same time," Caber told Xinhua by mobile phone, adding that the confiscation is the biggest in Mindanao in recent years.

According to him, local villagers had reported to authorities about the presence of the clandestine bomb factory.

Caber said since 2010, at least 453 landmine explosions linked to the NPA have occurred in the operational control of the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Philippine military, which covers half of insurgency-plagued Mindanao.

These blasts led to the death of 128 people and the wounding of 325 others, both security forces and civilians, and the destruction of government and private properties and infrastructures, Caber said.