MANILA: An ordnance expert of the Philippine Marines was killed and two others were wounded when one of several bombs they were trying to defuse around a house exploded in Jolo, a military commander said yesterday.
An ordnance team was deployed Saturday to the house of a village leader in Panglima Estino in Sulu where residents reported finding more than 10 bombs made from ammonium nitrate around the residence. The Marines had defused one bomb and were working on a second one, which suddenly exploded, Marine Colonel Jose Cenabre said.
The bombs may have been placed around the house like booby-traps due to a clan war involving the village leader, Cenabre said, adding Abu Sayyaf extremists, who are active in Sulu, apparently were not involved.
Floods dislocate 45,500 villagers
MAGUINDANAO: Floodwaters spawned by incessant rains since Sunday dawn inundated 18 towns in the province overnight, dislocating more than 45,500 villagers and damaging more than P50m (more than $1m) worth of rice and corn crops.
Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said the number of evacuees could increase in the next 24 hours due to the continuing rains in surrounding hinterlands where rivers flow downstream into the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta which spreads through low-lying areas in Maguindanao.
ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman led Monday the distribution of 10 tonnes of relief supplies to the flooded towns of Sultan Kudarat and Kabuntalan, both in the first district of Maguindanao.
Koronadal areas submerged
KORONADAL CITY: Eight areas in Koronadal City have been affected by heavy floods after torrential rains since Friday caused Bulok Creek and Marbel River to overflow.
City administrator Cyrus Urbano said that barangays Assumption, Mambucal, Sta Cruz, San Isidro, Carpenter Hill, Namnama, Concepcion and Zone 3 in Poblacion have been submerged in floodwater.
Urbano said that while the city government is considering place the city under a state of calamity, the extent of the damage is being evaluated.
Agencies
