Capt. Ernest Carolina, spokesperson of the army’s 10th Infantry Division, said the explosion damaged a patrol car of the Monkayo police station and wounded its driver and three civilians on the vehicle.
The blast happened around 8:40 a.m. at Sitio (Sub-village) Macopa, Upper Ulip village, Carolina said.
Elements of the Monkayo police station were investigating the torching of a bulldozer owned by local gold miner Candido Balunos when the explosion occurred.
“We’re heading back to the police station onboard the patrol car when there was a loud explosion just several meters from the torched heavy equipment,” said SPO3 Setchuan Te, Monkayo police investigator.
Te and three other policemen suffered slight injuries.
Also injured were village watchmen Johannes Fortaleza, Rey Maquiputin and Joel Sumatra, and an unidentified village councilor.
“Most of us had light shrapnel wounds in legs, neck, arms and forehead,” Te told the Inquirer by phone.
He surmised the bombers had used less a powerful explosive, such a pipe bomb—an improvised explosive fashioned from a sawn PVC pipe.
“We’re just lucky,” said Te, adding that personnel from the police Scene of the Crime Operation (SOCO) and explosive and ordnance disposal team (EODT) were now conducting “post-blast investigation” at the site.
Police suspected that the NPA’s Guerrilla Front 20 led by Julio Rosete and operates in the vicinity of the gold-rich Mt. Diwalwal, was behind Friday’s blast.
The village where the incidents happened is located at the foothills of the minerals-rich mountain.