1 soldier killed, another wounded in Basilan explosion
ZAMBOANGA CITY—A Scout Ranger was killed while another was wounded when an improvised explosive device went off in Cabangalan village in Ungkaya Pukan town, Basilan province on Monday morning.
Major General Rainier Ricardo Cruz III, chief of the First Infantry Division, said the soldiers were securing the construction of the Basilan Circumferential Road when the bomb, believed detonated by a mobile phone, exploded.
One of the soldiers, Corporal Mark Dandin Gomez, died while being treated by the medical team of the 3rd Scout Ranger Company.
The other soldier, Private First Class John Garde, was still being treated at the Camp Navarro General Hospital at the Western Mindanao Command.
Capt. Alberto Caber, spokesperson of the First Division, said troops recovered fragments of a mortar shell and cell phone parts.
