Twelve bombs were found hidden inside a bathroom in a ferry in the central Philippines, raising fears of another bombing campaign by suspected Islamic militants, the coast guard said Sunday.
- The improvised explosive devices, made of bottles with gunpowder, blasting caps, shrapnel and wiring, were found hidden in a sack in the bathroom of the MV Blue Water Princess on Saturday just as it was about to depart the city of Lucena for the central island of Masbate.
- Explosive experts and bomb-sniffing dogs were immediately dispatched to check the vessel for other bombs, said coast guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo.
- It was not clear if the bombs were intended to go off inside the ferry or were to be used elsewhere, said Balilo who also declined to identify any suspects.
- He said it was the coast guard's second discovery of large amounts of explosive material in just two weeks. Last week, a supply of ammonium nitrate and blasting caps was found in a port in the central city of Mandaue.
- The discovery of the bombs also came just days before President Gloria Arroyo is scheduled to make her annual state of the nation address to Congress on Monday, noted Balilo.
- The government had warned there may be attempts to disrupt the speech and has deployed more security forces as a precaution.
- Earlier this month, a spate of bombings in the southern Philippines left about a dozen dead and 100 wounded. The blasts were largely blamed on Muslim extremists.
- Muslim extremist group the Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the country's worst terror attack in which more than 100 people were killed in the bombing of a ferry in 2004.
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