RP police defuse bombs in Manila

RP police defuse bombs in Manila

Reuters, Manila

Philippine police have defused two explosives planted in the Makati financial district of the capital Manila by a group demanding separate federal states for the country's Christians and Muslims, officials said on Tuesday.

The previously unheard of group, styling itself as the "Indigenous People's Federal Army," appears to have no connection with foreign extremist networks, such as Osama bin Laden's al- Qaeda, Makati police chief Col. Jovie Gutierrez said.

"Maybe they just want to call attention to themselves or to scare," Gutierrez said by telephone.

The recovery of the explosives coincided with a stepped up alert in Philippine urban centers against possible attacks by local extremist groups.

The United States has accused Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, operating on the southern island of Basilan, of links to al-Qaeda.

Gutierrez said the explosives, consisting of a round of mortar, two grenades, blue powder and batteries, were found before midnight (11 p.m. in Jakarta) on Monday but appeared unrelated to the visit of FBI Director Robert Mueller, who had left Manila hours earlier.

Mueller held talks with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on ways of combating groups linked to bin Laden and al-Qaeda, alleged masterminds of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

One of the explosives was found in a flower bed along the main Ayala Avenue while the other was found blocks away on a street sidewalk.

Letters found with the explosives contained demands for the establishment of separate federal states for Christians, Muslims and indigenous ethnic minorities in the largely Roman Catholic country, Gutierrez said.

Meanwhile, Philippine troops shot dead four Moro guerrillas on Tuesday, in a stepped up offensive to rescue two American hostages held by a group linked to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, the military said.

Officials said high-tech U.S. detection equipment was helping local soldiers pinpoint the hideouts of the Abu Sayyaf rebels, enhancing chances of rescuing American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and a Filipina nurse.