Manila, Philippines - The Australian government warned that terrorists may attack during the celebration of Christmas and New Year in the Philippines. The Philippine National Police (PNP), however, said security agencies have no information of a specific threat.
"It is a caution, a warning, nothing specific, perhaps the Australians have information (which) we know they will share with us," said PNP Director General Avelino Razon, Jr. "We are verifying Australia's warning, but so far we have not detected any specific terror threat," Razon added.
As is customary during the holidays, the entire 125,000 men and women of the PNP are on "heightened alert." Australia's Embassy in Manila issued a travel advisory recently. It warned its citizens to "steer clear of places frequented by foreigners" and strongly advised against travel in the Mindanao region "where al-Qaeda-linked militants are active."
"Credible information indicates terrorists may be in the advanced stages of planning attacks. Attacks may be imminent and could occur at any time, anywhere in Mindanao," the advisory said.
Excerpted
Turkish Police Stop Would-Be Bomber in Istanbul
Monday, December 24, 2007
ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkish police thwarted a bomb attack in Istanbul on Monday, arresting a 25-year-old man with explosives in his backpack outside a subway station, the city's governor said. The man was carrying more than 7 pounds of A-4 plastic explosives when he was arrested in the Sisli district, one of the most crowded areas of the city, Turkish news agencies reported.
Though Governor Muammer Guler said the man was surely preparing for a bomb attack but said police were not yet able to find out what his target had been. Guler said police launched a raid on an apartment believed to be used as a safe house and seized more explosives and various mechanisms that could set off a bomb. Another man at the apartment was arrested after a chase, Guler said, and was suspected of membership in an unspecified terrorist organization.
Militant Kurdish, leftist and Islamic groups have carried out bombings in big cities and in resort towns in the past. In May, a 28-year-old once convicted of membership in a militant leftist group blew himself up in Turkey's capital, killing six people and wounding dozens.
Moscow – The force of the explosive device found in a car parked near a school in the settlement of Ordzhonikidzevskaya in Russia’s southern republic of Ingushetia, was equivalent to about one kilogram of TNT, sources from republican law enforcement agencies told Tass on Monday.
It consisted of about ten kilograms of a mixture of aluminium powder, ammonium nitrate and the detonator. All the ingredients were in a plastic bucket. The suspicious vehicle, VAZ-21010, was detected at about 10 pm, on Sunday, Moscow time. It had the marker lights on, and there was no driver inside. A powerful explosive device was found there. The bomb was defused. Police search for masterminds of the terrorist act.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12208059&PageNum=0
Bomb blast injures undetermined people in southern Philippines
Dec 24, 2007
Cotabato City, Philippines - A homemade bomb exploded in a commercial district in a southern Philippine city on Christmas Eve Monday, hurting an undetermined number of people, police said. The blast occurred just after lunch near a crowded plaza and a fast-food chain in the commercial district of Cotabato City, 960 kilometres south of Manila.
Superintendent Willie Dangane, city police chief, said investigators were still looking into the type of explosives used and possible suspects in the attack. The explosion occurred as police went on alert against terrorist attacks as the predominantly Catholic Philippines prepared for Christmas, a major holiday in the country.
Bomber stopped in Turkey ping.
Ping to Oorang’s post no. 987:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1933472/posts?page=987#987