Blast rocks Midsayap village; no one hurt

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines–A bomb exploded Sunday night in a remote village in Midsayap, North Cotabato, police said.

There were no casualties reported.

Superintendent Reynante de los Santos, Midsayap police chief, said the explosion occurred at 8:45 p.m. in front of a store owned by Gerry Fontanilla in Nes village.

Fontanilla told police investigators that two men on a motorcycle arrived at his store and bought cigarettes.

“Shortly after the two men left, a powerful blast occurred, damaging his store and created a huge crater,” Fontanilla told policemen.

“I never thought they were carrying bomb. Their faces were not familiar to me,” he said of the two men, who appeared to be in a hurry and left right after getting the cigarettes.

On August 7, a bomb exploded outside a pawnshop on Sto Nino Street in Midsayap, two days after a powerful car bomb went off in Cotabato City that killed eight people.

Last Wednesday, an IED exploded in Barangay (village) Baliki, also in Midsayap. Police said the IED, believed to be fashioned from 60-mm mortar, was intended for the town center but due to presence of policemen and soldiers at checkpoints, the assailants were forced to leave it at a roadside variety store.