Policeman slightly hurt from a roadside bomb attack in Maguindanao

SHARIFF AGUAK, MAGUINDANAO — A roadside bomb believed to have been set off by Islamic State-inspired Moro armed men injured a police officer on Sunday night in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao.

Police Brig. Gen. Graciano Mijares, police regional director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said Corporal Aratuc Balabagan of the Ampatuan town police suffered shrapnel wounds in different parts of his body but was already out of danger.

He was leaving the militia detachment and was about to board the police car back to the police station with his companions when a roadside bomb went off at 8 p.m., hitting him.

The detachment is not far from the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) base in Barangay Kauran, Ampatuan where he went to investigate a recent attack by the BIFF.

No militiaman was hurt in an earlier BIFF attack on the Cafgu detachment.

Mijares has directed the Maguindanao police to maintain its alert status that started during the Lenten break to thwart lawless elements from harassing government forces and civilians. Edwin O. Fernandez