Crime stude 3rd fatality in S. Kudarat bombing

BLAST SITE Military and police ordnance experts look for bomb fragments at the night market in Isulan’s Barangay Kalawag 3. PHOTO BY JEOFFREY MAITEM

ISULAN, SULTAN KUDARAT—President Rodrigo Duterte vowed justice for the families of victims of a bomb attack that claimed the lives of three people here.

Presidential Special Assistant Christopher “Bong” Go relayed this message to a radio station in Koronadal town as local officials on Thursday expected the President to visit survivors of Tuesday’s powerful bomb, which went off near a row of roadside stores during a festival at Kaliwag 3 village.

Go said President Duterte was closely monitoring the progress of the investigation and would make sure that those responsible for the blast would be held accountable.

Isulan Mayor Marites Pallasigue said a man who was critically wounded died from shrapnel wounds in the head and body in General Santos City, making him the third fatality.

Welmark John Lapidez, 25, a resident of nearby Bagumbayan town, and a criminology student at Sultan Kudarat State University, died at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Pallasigue said.

36 others wounded

The two other fatalities were Davy Shane Alayon, 7, who died in a hospital, and Lenie Umbrod, 52, who died at the blast site. Thirty-six others were wounded.

Pallasigue apologized for the cancellation of all activities related to the town’s 104th foundation day celebration and the seventh Hamungaya festival.

A Mass for those who died and those who are still in hospitals was offered at 2 p.m. at the town hall grounds.

Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, regional police public information officer, said a task force had been formed to handle the blast investigation.

The blast, which occurred days after Mr. Duterte ordered the military to intensify their offensive against Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf Group, was the second to hit Mindanao in a month.

The explosive, placed inside a motorbike, went off around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, police said.

On July 31, 11 people were killed and several others wounded when a van carrying explosives exploded outside a checkpoint in Lamitan City, Basilan province.