Man carrying bomb killed in gunfight with soldiers in Maguindanao town

COTABATO CITY—Soldiers killed a bomber and seized the explosive he was carrying in Maguindanao province early on Wednesday (Aug. 26).

Capt. Razul Pandulo, police chief of Datu Montawal town in Maguindanao, said soldiers from the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade were accosting the man, riding pillion on a motorcycle, based on a tip that he was carrying a homemade bomb.

Instead of turning himself in, the man pulled out a firearm and engaged the soldiers in a gunfight, Pandulo said.

His companion sped off aboard the motorcycle in the direction of the town center.

The gunfight took place 5 a.m. on Wednesday.

Pandulo said Army experts deactivated the bomb that the slain man left near a bridge along the Cotabato-Davao national highway.

In an interview with a radio station, Pandulo said authorities are still determining the slain bomber’s identity and the group he belonged to.

The explosive was made of a rifle grenade with blasting mechanism and loaded with cut nails and metal sheets that serve as shrapnel.

Bomb experts said the improvised bomb was designed to be set off using a mobile phone.

TSB