2 soldiers injured by bomb blast in North Cotabato

MIDSAYAP, North Cotabato—Two soldiers were injured when an improvised explosive device exploded near an Army outpost in Barangay (village) Nabalawag here early Friday morning.

Superintendent Renante delos Reyes, Midsayap police chief, said the IED, which went off near the detachment of the 40th Infantry Battalion, was fashioned from a 60-millimeter mortar shell fitted with a cell phone as trigger mechanism.

Delos Reyes identified one of the injured soldiers only as Sergeant Capol, who was in critical condition at a local hospital.

Friday’s blast was the fifth explosion here this August and, as in previous incidents, Delos Reyes said the police suspected that guerrillas of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters were behind it.

Rebel groups in Mindanao continue to use explosives against government forces.

Last week, one person was  killed while another one was injured when communist rebels detonated a landmine in Paquibato district in Davao City.