Philippine police detonated a suspicious package they thought could have been a home-made bomb found in a trash bin near the US embassy in Manila on Monday, the police chief in the capital said. There was no damage from the controlled detonation, Senior Superintendent Joel Coronel said, although the incident created a traffic jam in the area.
Business at the embassy continued as normal, with dozens of Filipinos queuing outside for visa applications. There was no immediate comment about the incident from embassy officials. Coronel said police received a call before 7 a.m. local time (2300 GMT Sunday) from a street sweeper who found an old mobile phone with black and red electrical wires connected to a package. It was thought the package could have been a bomb.
“There is no danger, there is no cause for alarm,” Coronel told reporters. He said there were no explosives, such as gunpowder, in the package.
