Monday 17 December 2012

Davao beefs up security after failed terror attack

Davao police are conducting random checks in public places in a bid to tighten security following the death of suspected Jemaah Islamiyah member Mohd Noor Fikrie Abd Kahar.

Davao City Police Office (DCPO) chief Senior Supt Ronald dela Rosa said he had added more police personnel to patrol the streets as well.

“We are also placing random checkpoints in places like shopping malls, hotels and churches places where many people gather,” he told The Star yesterday.

The Philippine coast guard has been ordered to keep watch over the city's seaports.

Supt dela Rosa said safety in churches was very important as the nine-day Simbang Gambi (dawn masses) started yesterday.

He said Mohd Noor Fikrie's parents are expected to arrive in Davao today to claim his body at the Angel Funeral Homes.

The Malaysian national was shot dead by Davao police on Friday night after they received intelligence that he had a bomb and was planning a terrorist attack in the city.

His Filipina wife, Annabelle Nieva Lee, was arrested and is currently being interrogated.

The couple was cornered when they were seen checking out of the Sampaguita Hotel, but Mohd Noor Fikrie managed to run out of the hotel carrying a backpack bomb and a mobile detonation device.

“Our intelligence did not tell us where or when the planned attack would be carried out and neither do we know the target. We only knew it would be in the city,” he said.

Supt dela Rosa said the police are expected to wrap up investigations by today.

He also said Mohd Noor Fikrie, who left Malaysia through Sandakan on April 27, had stayed in southern Zamboanga City, and then moved on to Cotabao City in Mindanao before getting to his final destination of Davao.

At about 10.30pm on Friday, the Kedah-born 26-year-old had caused panic in the Sampaguita Hotel when he threatened to detonate a backpack bomb if police made any move to arrest him.

He then ran out of the hotel with his wife, holding a cellphone up high as he grabbed the backpack and ran towards People's Park and SoundBox Bar where he was shot dead and his wife arrested.

The bomb, made of 60mm mortar, was later recovered from the backpack and defused.
 
Source : CLICK

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