A FOURTH suspect in the foiled bombing attempt at the US Embassy in Manila was nabbed by police intelligence operatives in Subic, Zambales, Metro Manila Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said Thursday.
He made the statement even as the police officers hunting the remnants of the terrorist group planning bombing sorties in Metro Manila recovered an improvised explosive device made up of a 105mm howitzer projectile in Bulacan on Wednesday afternoon.
Reports said the terrorists in Metro Manila were part of an eight-man team of newly graduated bombers out to sow violence, and apparently to gain recognition from the Islamic State.
A Mindanao source said at least eight bombers from the newly formed Dawlat-ul Islamiya or Islamic Lanao that had links to ISIS arrived in Metro a few months back for test missions, but they failed.
Police Chief Ronaldo dela Rosa said the IED was recovered following a disclosure from Mohammad Jumao-as, the third suspect nabbed in the foiled attempt to bomb the US Embassy.
Albayalde has just been promoted to the two-star rank, or major general, in the military.
He did not identify the fourth bomber who was arrested, but a source identified him as Elmer Romero y Cabuhat who was nabbed Wednesday night.
“Romero tried but failed to escape,” the source said.
During the press briefing led by Dela Rosa, Albayalde also presented an improvised explosive device, the second bomb to be recovered since the recovery of the first near the US Embassy.
Dela Rosa said the IED was made of a round of 105mm Howitzer canon, not 81mm mortar as earlier reported.
“This is more lethal than any mortar round,” Dela Rosa said.
The bomb was similar to the one recovered near the US Embassy and the one that exploded at a night market in Davao City on September 2 that killed almost two dozen people and injured scores of others.