IED event in Maguindanao, Marawi area, Philippines on Sun 29th January 2023

LIGAN CITY ( MindaNews / 29 January) ر Eighty-three assorted unexploded ordnance (UXOs) were detonated Sunday morning in a safe zone inside Marawiصs شGround Zeroص (now referred to as MAA or the Most Affected Area), the former battleground during the five-month war between government forces and the Maute Group in 2017. The Joint Task Group Builder composed of Army Explosive Ordnance and Disposal Unit and 553 Engineer Battalion disposed the 83 assorted UXOs. Lt. Col. Roy C. Tapat, Commanding Officer of 553 Army Engineers said most of the UXOs were found during the construction of different buildings in the last two quarters of 2022. زThe MAA is now 99 per cent safe,س Tapat said. Tapat said the UXOs were mostly 40 mm projectiles. The 553 Army Engineers Construction Battalion under the 55th Army Engineer Brigade is in-charge of security within MAA in coordination with Task Force Bangon Marawi and 103rd Infantry Brigade in Marawi. At the consultation/dialogue with Marawiصs internally displaced persons (IDPs or bakwits) in mid-March 2019, then Task Force Bangon Marawi chair Eduardo del Rosario said the MAA was already 90% cleared as زmore than 4,500 explosives were already recoveredس but the biggest concernس then was the recovery of 49 ammunitions زas big as 500-pounderس general purpose (GP) bombs. He said the 49 GP bombs ذ 110, 260 and 500 pounds ر were زscattered all over the MAA and that is the reason why we do not like you to go back there for your safety.س On May 6, 2019, in his presentation to the Cabinet, Del Rosario said a total of 3,973 unexploded ordnance had been retrieved from Ground Zero, along with 816 improvised explosive devices, and 21 of 70 GP bombs. His presentation showed 13 of 16 500-pounder bombs, four of 17 260-pounder and four of 37 110-pounder had been recovered by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), leaving 49 more unrecovered. In late October 2019, the Army Engineersص Explosive Ordnance and Disposal (EOD) team detonated another 500-pound UXO. (Richel V. Umel / MindaNews)