COTABATO CITY—A farmer was wounded when a homemade bomb exploded as he tended to his carabao on an open field in the town of General Salipada K. Pendatun early on Wednesday (Sept. 23).
Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Mujahid Guialudin, of Tonggol village, suffered wounds in the feet.
Uy said bomb experts found an improvised explosive device (IED) made from a 60 mm mortar attached to a mobile phone as a triggering device. It was left some 3 meters from the dirt road.
Another civilian found another IED a few meters from where the first bomb was found.
Uy said the bombing plot could be part of a diversionary tactic of members of Dawla Islamiyah, a homegrown terror group with links to Islamic State and composed mainly of Abu Sayyaf men. The Army has launched a massive manhunt for members of the group.
The discovery of the bombs in General SK Pendatun came a day after government forces found a camp abandoned by Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Ampatuan town, some 30 kilometers from General SK Pendatun.
Uy, also head of Joint Task Force Central (JTFC), has directed his troops to hunt down the suspects behind the bombing plots.
“The ongoing operation of the Joint Task Force Central targeting the local bomb makers was meant to contain the terrorists who are plotting to launch bombing activities in Central Mindanao,” Uy said.