Abandoned bag yields powerful explosives

COTABATO CITY — Lawmen found a bag containing powerful explosives and bomb-making paraphernalia in a farming village in North Cotabato’s Makilala town yesterday.

Two days ago, soldiers defused two powerful landmines planted on vital thoroughfares connecting Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao to Cotabato City.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, citing initial feedback from local probers, said the bag, spotted by vigilant residents of Barangay Saguing, contained live 60-mm. mortar rounds, propellants and nozzles of shoulder-fired rifle grenades, dry cell batteries and electrical wires.

Army intelligence sources said two men were seen carrying the bag, but hurriedly left and abandoned it when they noticed that residents had been watching them all along.

"The Makilala and provincial police and the provincial peace and order council are now helping each other determine who brought the explosives there and their real intentions," Piñol said.

Last June 4, bomb experts promptly deactivated an improvised explosive, fashioned from three live 81-mm mortar projectiles, inside the compound of radio station dxND, owned by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato’s provincial capital.

The bomb was reportedly timed to explode while Piñol, known for his hardline policy in dealing with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, would host his noontime program "Pareng Gov," where he tackles his socio-economic thrusts.

The bomb was planted in a row of ornamental plants not far away from the announcer’s booth.

Over the weekend, Army bomb experts defused two powerful landmines, fashioned from two 81-mm. mortar rounds and rigged on a secluded portion of the Secretary Narciso Ramos Highway and along an access route connecting Barangay Langkong in Matanog, Maguindanao to Camp Abubakar, the MILF’s former bastion.

"The landmines were intended to maim or even kill soldiers passing through the routes where they were planted," said Brig. Gen. Antonio Romero, commander of the Army’s 603rd Infantry Brigade.

Romero said it was just fortunate that Muslim farmers in the periphery of Camp Abubakar, where the 603rd IB is now based, and in communities along the Secretary Narciso Ramos Highway are now fully cooperating in the military’s pacification campaign.

Romero said residents at Camp Iranun are also helping monitor the movements of separatist rebels in areas where Army engineers are building vital infrastructure as part of President Arroyo’s effort to transform the former MILF enclave into a viable peace zone.