Bomb recovered from Filinvest building in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA City, Philippines - Police recovered an improvised explosive device (IED) planted inside a Filinvest Development Corp. building in this city on Monday morning.

Senior Inspector Arlan Delumpines, chief of the city police's investigation and detection unit, said the IED was discovered by a security guard on the second floor of the Filinvest building at the corner of Nuñez street and Camanchili Drive at around 8 a.m..

Senior Police Officer 4 Wilfredo Fox, commander of the explosive ordnance and disposal (EOD) unit of the city police, said the IED was made up of ammonium nitrate, fuel oil, blasting cap, timing fuse and nails placed in a one liter size plastic soda container.

Fox said that the bomb should have exploded even before it was discovered, but its timing fuse failed.

Police investigators are looking at extortion as the main reason behind the attempted bombing of the real estate company's building.

Delumpines said that last June 26, the building's owner received an extortion letter from an anonymous group.

The police official declined to provide more details as efforts to track down and arrest the extortion group has been launched by the police and military.