Bomb recovered in Lanao Del Sur; military, police in heightened alert

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 25): Bomb recovered in Lanao Del Sur; military, police in heightened alert

The military and police in Northern Mindanao were placed under heightened alert following the discovery of two improvised explosives along the highways in Lanao Del Sur Monday afternoon, a military official said on Tuesday.

Capt. Christian Uy, spokesperson of the Army’s Public Affairs Division here, said that the improvised explosives were reportedly recovered along the highways of Nungnugan, Lanao Del Sur Monday afternoon by elements of the 65th Infantry Battalion.

According to Uy, the Army’s 4th Infantry Division received the report but did not have the details of the incident since Lanao Del Sur is no longer part of its area of responsibility.

However, Uy said, the 4th ID considered the report seriously because of the proximity of Lanao Del Sur to the Army division coverage.

The 4th ID covers Northern Mindanao and the Caraga Region while the 1st Infantry Division covers Region 9 that includes Lanao Del Sur and Lanao Del Norte provinces.

With the heightened alert, security patrol has been stepped up in Northern Mindanao, Uy added.

The Cagayan de Oro City police command has also stepped up surveillance and intelligence operations here, Chief Inspector Lemuel Gonda, head of the local police operations said.

Gonda said that the discovery of the explosive device has alarmed the intelligence community. “Everybody in the community is trying to figure out the destination of the explosive device,” he said.

He said that the report described the explosive device as armed with an 81 millimeter mortar and equipped with remote gadget that would trigger with ring from a mobile phone.

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