Bus passengers saved from bomb, but panic

COTABATO CITY—Government security forces on Thursday foiled another bomb plot in Tacurong City, safely detonating an improvised explosive device (IED) that was planted in a bus and arresting three suspects, according to the military.

Col. Melquiades Feliciano, head of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said soldiers manning a checkpoint in the village of Barrio Dos in Tacurong were inspecting a unit of the Yellow Bus Line, which was bound for Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat province, when they found the bomb.

He said the bomb was made of two 60-mm mortar shells fitted with a mobile phone as a trigger mechanism.

Feliciano said three suspects were arrested and are now being interrogated. He declined to identify any of the suspects.

After securing the bus, the 33rd Explosive and Ordnance Disposal Team of the military brought the IED outside and detonated it safely, according to Feliciano.

He said investigators believe the bombing attempt was the work of extortionists, who prey on bus companies plying Central Mindanao.

Elmer Sayson, a passenger, told a local radio station that all the passengers rushed out of the bus in panic despite the soldiers calmly announcing the presence of a bomb.

Sayson said many of the passengers, among them women and children, had been hurt in the panic.

On Wednesday, an IED exploded inside the compound of the Central Mindanao office of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in Midsayap town in North Cotabato province.

Another IED was also found in the same compound following the 5 a.m. blast, according to Supt. Reynante delos Santos, the town’s police chief.

Delos Santos said no one was injured in the bomb attack, which occurred a day before the 37th foundation day of the NIA.

He said bomb experts, who were investigating the case, also discovered and defused the second IED planted in front of the Commission on Audit (COA) office, which was also inside the NIA compound in the village of Villarica in Midsayap.

While police are still investigating, NIA Central Mindanao director Ali Satol said he believed that the attack was meant to kill as many people as possible.

The Inquirer learned that the COA was conducting an audit of the finances of the regional NIA office.

Wednesday’s explosion was the second inside the NIA office here in recent years.

In October 2003, a grenade attack on a mosque at the NIA compound killed then NIA regional director Makmod Mending Sr. and three others and injured over 12 people.

The grenade attack had not been solved to this day although there was an earlier finding that it could have been motivated by “an internal struggle” within the NIA.

On Maundy Thursday, police in Cotabato City also foiled an attempt by unidentified men to detonate a bomb in front of the two government facilities. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao