2 questioned for bomb near US Embassy

A bomb squad secures a section of Roxas Boulevard to retrieve an improvised explosive device (encircled) hurled from a taxicab early Monday. —PHOTOS BY MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

The police have taken hold of two “persons of interest” in connection with the home-made bomb found near the US Embassy on Monday.

A man suspected of being the one who left the improvised explosive device (IED) some 200 meters from the embassy on Roxas Boulevard was tracked down in Bulakan town in Bulacan province.

He was identified as Rayson Kilala, 34, also known as Rashid Kilala, whose listed address is at No. 092 Barangay Bagumbayan.

Chief Supt. Aaron Aquino, Central Luzon police director, said Kilala’s involvement was still being verified as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. Kilala was turned over to the Manila Police District.

According to MPD director Senior Supt. Joel Coronel, two persons of interest—not just one—were being investigated. He declined to disclose their identities.

Corona maintained that the two men were “invited for questioning (and) not arrested.”

Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde, director of National Capital Region Police Office, said one of them was tracked down in Caloocan City early Wednesday  while the other, who hails from Marawi City, was found in Bulacan Tuesday night. —TONETTE OREJAS AND  AIE BALAGTAS SEE