COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Unidentified men suspected to be members of a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front set off an explosive outside the old city hall building here used by a unit of the Philippine Marines as headquarters on Wednesday night but no one was reported injured by the blast, Mayor Japal Guiani, Jr. said Thursday.
The incident occurred just a few days after the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, led by MILF renegade commander Umra Kato, vowed to avenge the capture of eight of its members and takeover by the Philippine military of its camp on the border between the provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat.
Guiani told reporters that the bomb, which exploded 9 p.m., could have been intended for members of the 36th Marine Company of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 1 who were occupying the old city hall building. But it was not clear why the bomb exploded a few feet away from the building, if it was the actual target, he said.
Guiani said the incident prompted him to call a meeting with the police and the military to address the security lapse.
Senior Superintendent Rolen Balquin, Cotabato City police commander, said they were investigating if the BIFF indeed carried out the bombing.
Abu Misry Mama, BIFF spokesperson, had warned of more attacks in the wake of the capture of the BIFF camp near the towns of President Quirino in Sultan Kudarat and SK Pentadun in Maguindanao early this week.
Kato, former commander of the MILF 105th Base Command, founded the BIFF after a serious disagreement with the MILF leadership over the conduct of the peace negotiations with the government.
Kato resented the MILF’s inaction when the government reneged on the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain in 2008, after the Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional.
In August 2011, the BIFF came into the limelight when its guerrillas mounted attacks on military installations in Maguindanao, occupied the Cotabato-General Santos City highway for almost a week, and harassed civilian communities.