Anonymous text message leads cops to bomb in Kudarat gas station

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A texter prevented what could have been a tragedy when he alerted the police about an improvised explosive device he discovered inside the rest room of a gas station in Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat, the authorities said.

Col. Prudencio Asto, regional Army spokesperson, said an unidentified person alerted the police via his mobile phone, about his find at about 5 p.m. Sunday.

Bomb experts from the Sultan Kudarat police provincial office responded and disrupted (contained detonation) the explosive device.

Police initially suspected the planting of IED was the handiwork of extortionists, but the gas station owner Roger Tabat said he has no known enemy nor has he received any extortion demand.

After the IED was disrupted, bomb experts recovered the resulting broken mobile phone and fragments of a rocket-propelled grenade, the authorities said.