Report: Cops foil 'bombing attempt' in Basilan

Police claimed to have foiled a possible bombing attack in Isabela City in Basilan province Friday, a news site reported Saturday. Authorities suspect the Abu Sayyaf to be behind an improvised explosive device planted in Isabela City, Mindanao Examiner reported Saturday. "We have disarmed the [explosive device] that has the signature of the Abu Sayyaf," Basilan provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Alexis Lineses said. He said the explosive device was wrapped in a trash bag, packed with iron nails and attached to a cellular phone. The explosive was made from ammonium nitrate, he added. The Mindanao Examiner report said it was not immediately clear if the bomb was timed to explode on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. Lineses said the incident prompted him to order security in the province doubled. “We have doubled security in the province, especially in Isabela City because of the threats of attacks from lawless elements," he said. Earlier this month, a bomb exploded in a small lodging house in Lamitan City in Basilan. The Abu Sayyaf bandit group is believed to hold local trader Larry Tam delos Santos who was kidnapped in December in Isabela City. — LBG, GMA News