MILF ‘explosives expert’ killed, 2 hurt in Tacurong school explosion

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — A man on a motorcycle was killed when a bomb in his possession exploded outside a Catholic school in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat yesterday.

The blast shattered the limbs of the motorcycle rider and set fire to his vehicle.

Col. Agustin Dema-ala, commander of the Army’s 301st Brigade, said the suspected bomber carried a motorcycle registration in the name of Sammy Abubakar, 27, and a driver’s license bearing the name Henry Fernandez of Bulua, Cotabato City.

Abubakar, of Barangay Simuay in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao, later died in a hospital, said Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, the regional military commander.

Provincial police chief Superintendent Bonfilo Dacoco would not say if Abubakar belonged to any guerrilla organization.

But highly placed sources said Abubakar was believed to be an explosives expert of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The sources said Abu-bakar was a neighbor of Ghadzali Jaafar, the MILF’s vice chairman for political affairs, in Barangay Simuay, some eight kilometers north of Cotabato City.

The explosion occurred at about 3 p.m. at the corner of Lapu-Lapu Avenue and the national highway in Tacurong near the Catholic school.

Claire Esquejo, a 12-year-old student of Notre Dame of Tacurong school for girls, and her 40-year-old nanny suffered slight injuries.

Dacoco said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive hidden in a bag tied to the saddle of the motorcycle.

Police recovered pieces of a timing device and detonator at the scene.

Dacoco said Abubakar was seen driving around the school before the bomb exploded.

The wounded Abubakar tried to flee when a security guard accosted him, Dacoco said.

Barangay officials said Abubakar might have timed the bomb to explode while students were leaving the school, but it blew up before he could plant it at the gate.

Earlier, police defused a bomb found inside the Fitmart Plaza Department Store in Tacurong City. A branch of the same department store was bombed in General Santos City in April last year.

Chief Inspector Raul Supiter, Tacurong City police commander, said the bomb, which was filled with lighter fluid and attached to a cylinder and timer, was set to explode at 2 a.m. yesterday. — With AFP report