Sayyaf strikes again, bombs bridge in Sulu

Members of the Abu Sayyaf bombed a bridge in Panamao, Sulu, early on Wednesday but there was no casualty, the military said.

The attack came four days after an Abu Sayyaf attack on military camps in Sulu.

Col. Jose Johriel Cenabre, deputy commander for Marines Operations of the Naval Forces in Western Mindanao, said the Abu Sayyaf used an improvised explosive device (IED) in blasting the bridge in Barangay Kandayok around 1 a.m.

Cenabre said a few hours before New Year’s Day, Abu Sayyaf members also attacked two Marine camps in Indanan town and in Patikul.

Chief Supt. Bienvenido Latag, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said authorities had prepared for Abu Sayyaf attacks based on intelligence reports. He said hours before the attacks took place, authorities had monitored a big number of Abu Sayyaf members converging in Camp Tambisan near Patikul.

In South Cotabato, police bomb experts yesterday detonated an IED discovered under a tree along the national highway in Tantangan.

Chief Supt. Felicisimo Khu Jr., head of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (Dipo) in Western Mindanao, said police suspect the bomb was meant for buses of the Yellow Bus Line (YBL) which had refused to heed extortion demands.

Khu said the detonated bomb was the third “intended for YBL.”

On Dec. 26, two IEDs were also recovered by police in Polomolok town. The bombs were found by two teenagers in a bag left near the gates of the Polomolok National High School. Julie Alipala and Aquiles Z. Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao