Suspected communist rebels set a bus on fire in South Cotabato on Tuesday night, the military said Wednesday.
The suspected insurgents burned an airconditioned Yellow Bus Line with body number 7225 plying the Isulan, Sultan Kudarat to Koronadal, South Cotabato route, Captain Marvin Gammad, civil military operations officer of the Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion, said.
About eight rebels boarded the bus while it was in Barangay Poblacion in South Cotabato to declare that they will torch the bus. They asked the passengers to get off before they set the bus on fire.
“According to the bus driver, the [perpetrators] introduced themselves as members of the New People’s Army,” Gammad said.
Gammad said that this was the fourth time since November that suspected rebels burned a bus from the same transport company.
“The investigation is still ongoing. The NPA has not yet issued a statement claiming that they were behind it. We are coordinating with the police,” he said./ac