Security forces foiled what could have been a deadly terrorist attack following the discovery of an improvised explosive device inside a public cemetery in Jolo, Sulu on Saturday.
The Joint Task Group Sulu under Brig, Gen Alan Arrojado said the IED concealed in a plastic container was found abandoned inside the cemetery.
Arrojado said members of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team of the 2nd Marine Brigade were conducting security check at the Mount Carmel Cemetery when they noticed the IED.
The bomb components include electrical cable wires, a cellphone, as detonator and several kilograms of ammonium nitrate, Arrojado disclosed.
The foiled attack came after unidentified armed men toppled two towers of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines in Marawi City Friday evening, leaving several villages without electricity following the disruption of power supply generated by the Agus 1 and 2 hydro plants for the Mindanao grid.
Arrojado said they have yet to determine who were responsible for the bomb plot but added that the Abu Sayyaf Group might have planted the IED, apparently to distract an ongoing military operation against the terrorist. Group.
The detection of the IED prompted the military in Sulu and other parts of Mindanao to mobilize more ground troops and mobile patrols in strategic areas particularly at the perimeter of cemeteries where thousands of people are expected to visit their dead relatives.
The military leadership has ordered the deployment of at least 4,000 uniformed personnel in surrounding cemeteries nationwide to ensure the peaceful celebration of All Saints’ Day.
Parallel to the military’s peace effort, the Philippine National Police deployed several thousands of policemen inside cemeteries and places of convergence to protect people from criminal syndicates who would take advantage of the All Saints’ Day celebration nationwide.