Police arrest third suspect in Manila bombing attempt
Police captured a third suspect in the attempt to bomb Manila on November 28, the chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) revealed Tuesday.
Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde confirmed they have in their custody the suspect, one of the three persons initially reported to have escaped to Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
"We captured the suspect somewhere outside of Metro Manila," Albayalde said in a chance interview with reporters in Camp Crame.
The police official declined to give details.
The suspect and details of the operation will be presented by Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald Dela Rosa in a news conference around 10 am in Camp Crame Wednesday.
The individual is among the five suspected members of the Mindanao-based terrorist group Ansar al-Khaliafah which tried to bomb Manila using an improvised explosive device fashioned out of an 81 millimeter mortar round.
Two suspects who allegedly belong to the Ansar al-Khilafah were implicated by the police in the bombing attempt.
The suspects are Jiaher Guinar, a cellphone shop owner in Caloocan City and Rayson Kilala, who was captured in Bulakan municipality, Bulacan.
They were accused of planting the improvised bomb along Roxas Boulevard about 150 meters away from the US Embassy.
The group's initial plan was to bomb Luneta Park the previous evening. But it fizzled out after the triggering device, a radio, malfunctioned. Emmanuel Tupas/DMS
