Rebel landmine narrowly misses Army truck in Compostela Valley

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte —Suspected communist rebels detonated an improvised explosive device on the national road in Mabini in Compostela Valley, narrowly missing an Army as it passed by although shrapnel shattered its windshield, police and military officials said.

The landmine planted on the shoulder of the Tagum-Mati road in Barangay Cadunan went off around 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Shrapnel damaged the windshield of the Army truck but no one was injured, said Compostela Valley police chief Senior Supt. Abraham Rojas.

“Responding elements of Mabini police station recovered a 50-meter detonating wire at the scene. The lawless armed group (New People’s Army) was behind the blast,” Rojas told the Inquirer via text message.

The KM-450 truck of Army’s 71st Infantry Battalion was heading for this city when the blast occurred, said Capt. Ernest Carolina, information officer of the army’s 10th Infantry Division.

Five soldiers aboard the truck led by Sgt. Jonathan Balutoc hastily got off the vehicle and took defensive positions but no rebel was sighted, he said.