Soldier hurt in Maguindanao blast

CAMP SIONGCO, MAGUINDANAO – A soldier was slightly injured when suspected Moro militants set off an improvised bomb along the national highway in Datu Hofer, Maguindanao on Monday morning.

Major Arvin John Encinas, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said the blast that hurt a soldier was the second improvised bomb set off by suspected members of an Islamic State (IS)-linked armed group using a mobile phone as a triggering device.

Citing field reports, Encinas said an IED exploded beside the highway in Barangay Labu-Labu 2, Datu Hofer town about 6 a.m. Nobody was hurt in the first blast.

Soldiers from the 57th Infantry Battalion proceeded to the blast site to conduct a post-blast investigation but another IED exploded in the vicinity that slightly injured a soldier.

Encinas said the wounded infantryman was rushed to the Maguindanao Integrated Provincial Hospital.

The incident also forced police to shut down portions of the highway between Ampatuan, Maguindanao to Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat while the post-blast investigation was going on. Traffic was reopened about 7 a.m.

No one has claimed responsibility for the twin bombing but the Army believed the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were behind the attack.

Police and military authorities said the IEDs have the trademark of BIFF and similar to other IEDs set off in Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, and North Cotabato provinces.