Suspected NPA rebel killed in Compostela Valley blast

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Philippines—A suspected New People’s Army bomber was killed when an improvised explosive device apparently went off prematurely in a hinterland barangay (village) in Maco, Compostela Valley, early on Tuesday, military and police officials said.

The blast happened in Purok (Community) 1, Barangay Panibasan around 3:40 a.m., said Supt. Antonio Rivera, spokesperson of the Southern Mindanao Police Regional Office.

Rivera told Philippine Daily Inquirer by text message that residents there reported hearing a powerful explosion and seeing three motorcycles speeding off minutes after.

Responding bomb disposal and investigating teams found at the scene fragments of a blue PVC pipe that were believed to be from the improvised bomb and some 200 meters away, human flesh and body parts.

“A cellular phone that could be used as a triggering device and one A23-size battery were recovered from the short pants of the body,” said Rivera.

Col. Casiano Monilla, 1001st Infantry Brigade commander, said the victim could be the one carrying the bomb.

Monilla said there had been numerous bomb attacks by the New People’s Army in Compostela Valley in recent weeks, the latest of which was on Sunday when rebels attacked the security post of Apex Mining in Masara, also in Maco.

“This could be part of those attacks as (communist rebels) are known to manufacture and set off these improvised bombs,” the army official said.

Military and police officials said bombing attacks by the NPA against businesses in the resource-rich province could be due to the firms’ refusal to give in to the rebels’ extortion demands.

Last week, five government troops were also hurt in a landmine explosion in Pantukan, Compostela Valley.