Basilan bomb attack foiled

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Government troopers foiled a bomb attack in Basilan yesterday as government troopers recovered three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by the roadside in Tipo-Tipo town.

Personnel of the 18th Infantry Battalion and K9 and Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit discovered the bombs in Sitio Limbu Urot, Barangay Tipo-Tipo Proper at about 5 a.m.

Brig. Gen. Domingo Gobway, Joint Task Force Basilan and 101st Brigade commander, said the troops detonated the IEDs designed as anti-personnel mines.

The military conducted an intelligence-driven operation after police said the remaining Abu Sayyaf bandits based in Tipo-Tipo were behind the twin explosions in Isabela City on May 30.

The bombs went off in the parking lot of a fastfood chain and the motorpool of a bus terminal, leaving two persons wounded.

Also in Basilan, two persons were wounded in a gun attack in Maluso on Friday night.

Maj. Basiri Hassan, town police chief, said Alvin Amat, 42, a member of the Barangay Peace Action Team, and Shermhan Ansay, 34, were under a waiting shed of the wet market in Barangay Townsite when they were shot.

Hassan said the suspects engaged responding police and members  of the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit in a shootout, wounding militiamen Glendon Mengyaw and Ricky Villarin.

The suspects managed to escape.— John Unson