Improvised bombs recovered in Zambales

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — Improvised anti-tank and anti-personnel bombs that could blast a building were recovered by government troops from communist rebels during combat operations in Sitio Dapla, Barangay Salaza, Palauig, Zambales, over the weekend.

A belated report from Senior Superintendent Edgardo Ladao, Zambales provincial police director, said that combined elements from the 314th provincial mobile group of Zambales and the Bravo Company of the 24th Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army and Philippine Navy conducted combat operations after an intelligence report that communist guerrilas were planning to raid government detachments.

Ladao said the rebels planned to attack the northern part of Zambales using improvised bombs.

As government troops approached, the rebels reportedly scampered to the different directions, leaving the bombs, he said.

Recovered were five improvised anti-personnel claymore mines, 30 kilos of ammonium nitrate, one kilo aluminum powder, nine improvised blasting caps, one M-16 Armalite rifle, 35 kilos of scrap metals used for making shrapnel, two rolls of electrical wires and five bottles of ferric chloride.

The bombs could have blasted a building, the report said.