2 suspects in Tacurong explosions nabbed

TACURONG CITY—Police arrested two men in possession of hand grenades minutes after two explosions rocked a gasoline station here and wounded 15 people on Monday night.

Supt. Raul Supiter, Sultan Kudarat provincial police director, said Waren Gani and his brother, Johari, were seen roaming around the blast site carrying hand grenades, after two explosions hit Dragon Gasoline Station along the national highway here.

An improvised explosive first hit the roof of the gasoline station’s toilet at 6:45 p.m. Police and military bomb experts were about to cordon off the area at 7:10 p.m. when another explosion hit the station, wounding nine bystanders, three soldiers and three policemen, said Supt. Romeo Galgo, regional police spokesperson. The second explosion also damaged four motorcycles and a car.

The Gani brothers admitted they were members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) but could not explain why they were at the blast scene and why they were carrying explosives.

Police found on the suspects’ mobile phones their photographs carrying firearms and wearing fatigue uniforms, Supiter said.

Galgo said the brothers were undergoing tactical interrogation at the Tacurong police headquarters as investigators tried to establish the
motive of the attack.

“We cannot conclude yet that this is an act of terrorism,” Galgo said. “We are looking at all angles as there are threat groups in surrounding areas,” he said, referring to Moro rebels in Maguindanao province.

Supiter said personnel of St. John Learning Center on Ilang-Ilang Street in Barangay New Isabela also reported receiving a bomb threat at 5:50 p.m., barely an hour before the first blast occurred.

Police noted text messages circulating in the area before the blasts, warning recipients of bombing plots in key cities in South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces, and General Santos City that would be carried out supposedly by Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) to avenge
the deaths of Abu Sayyaf members in last week’s clashes in Bohol province.

A police official described the Tacurong explosions as a “well-planned bombing attack.”

Supiter noted the similarities of the bombs used here with those set off in previous bombings in the region. Police have been eyeing the possible role played by the BIFF, a breakaway group of the MILF, in the attack.

The blast came two weeks after an improvised bomb was set off in front of the Sultan Kudarat Electric Cooperative office, wounding eight workers. —EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ AND AFP