By Hader Glang and Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Soldiers have discovered of an improvised explosive device (IED) beside a water supply in the southern Philippines province of Basilan -- one of several pipes the water agency purchased to replace those previously blown up by bombers.
Richard Falcatan, manager of DXNO radio station based in Basilan, told Anadolu Agency that the Philippine Army's 14th Special Forces Company retrieved the IED which was fashioned out of a mortar shell and disrupted it, preventing what could have been another prolonged water outage.
Falcatan said the IED was placed by suspected Abu Sayyaf saboteurs to destroy it or cause injuries to the the Maluso Water District maintenance team undertaking repairs of the bombed water pipes.
Bomb experts said the recovered IED could inflict serious damage to the pipeline or killed persons within a close distance.
On May 28, the pipeline was destroyed by a bomb explosion causing water outage in the town for five days.
Since then the army's 4th Special Forces Battalion has been deployed in strategic areas to prevent similar acts.
On June 6, a CAFGU volunteer was beheaded and another shot and seriously wounded after they were attacked by Abu Sayyaf gunmen while securing a part of the area where the pipeline is installed from the water source to the town proper of Maluso.
Since then, more security measures were adopted by the 4th Special Forces Battalion, including clearing the area through a series of combat operations and security patrols.
Falcatan quoted Maluso officials as saying that by sabotaging Maluso District's water service, the al-Qaeda linked group is coercing it into paying protection money.
The Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.
It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.
