5 injured by roadside blast in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—(UPDATE) At least five persons, including a militiaman, were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off on a roadside in Maguindanao just as a bus passed by early Thursday morning, the police said.

Senior Inspector Mark Donald Edquibal, Pandag town police chief, said the blast occurred at about 5:30 a.m. along the highway of Pandag in Barangay (village) Kayaga about 50 meters from a militia checkpoint and was obviously intended for the passing Grand Courier Bus.

“The suspect detonated the roadside bomb as the bus passed by,” Edquibal said.

The explosive, fashioned from a 60-millimeter mortar shell with a cell phone as trigger mechanism, destroyed the middle portion of the bus, which was en route to Davao City from Tacurong City.

Edquibal identified those wounded as Fatima Madidis, 39; Jovelyn Pag-ong, 28; Campoa Abdul, 35; bus conductor Dodoy Castro and militiaman Zoren Madidis.

The victims were treated for minor injuries at a hospital in Tacurong City, Edquibal said.

“No one has claimed responsibility, but we have several suspects, including extortion gangs,” he said.

The authorities said the Al-Khobar extortion gang, composed of former Moro rebels, has been harassing bus companies in Central Mindanao for protection money. It has been blamed for previous bus bombings, including last year’s bombing in Matalam, North Cotabato, in which nearly a dozen people were killed.

The Al-Khobar was also blamed for the earlier bombings in Southern Mindanao in which more than two dozen people were killed.

(With reports from Jeoffrey Maitem and Aquiles Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao)