Bomb scare grips Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A car abandoned at a gas station prompted police to close a road in this city Thursday night.

Mayor Vitaliano Avenue was closed for a few hours as police officers, including bomb squad members, inspected the car.

Chief Inspector Rhean Loyed Bato, commander of the bomb squad, said it turned out that the owner of the Toyota Vios was responding to an emergency call from a nearby hospital.

Minutes later, a bomb scare also swept Barangay Sta. Catalina after residents discovered an abandoned luggage along the road.

Responding bomb squad members discovered that the luggage contained clothes and other personal belongings.

Earlier, classes at a school in Barangay Tugbungan were disrupted when someone shouted “bomb.” Classes at a state-run university were also suspended due to an alleged bomb threat.

Fear gripped residents here since the car bomb attack last Jan. 23 that left two people dead and 54 others wounded in Barangay Guiwan along the Ma. Clara Lobregat Highway.