Security in Cotabato City beefed up

COTABATO CITY — Local forces of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and police and military units have sealed all entry and exit points here to prevent a repeat of last Thursday’s rocket grenade attacks by suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said dozens of intelligence operatives have also been fielded in two of the city’s major entry points to monitor movements of suspicious people entering the city.

"These men are now helping the Marines guard the city’s strategic areas," Ando said.

Mayor Muslimin Sema, the MNLF’s secretary-general, said leaders and residents of the city’s 37 barangays have also been asked to tightly monitor far-flung areas.

Sema said MNLF forces in villages at the city’s boundary with Maguindanao have volunteered to help keep a tight watch on the possible entry and escape routes of lawless elements.

Three people were wounded in Thursday night’s blast in the compound of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, not far from radio station dxMS, which was bombed last March by suspected MILF rebels with an improvised explosive fashioned from a 60 mm mortar shell rigged with a battery-operated blasting device.

Probers said either a B-40 rocket or a fragmentation grenade exploded at the cathedral. Just 10 minutes after the attack, armed men fired a 40 mm shoulder-fired grenade at the roof of the Jollibee outlet here, less than 100 meters from the city’s main police precinct.

The twin attacks came just two hours after MILF rebels fired an M-79 grenade launcher at the public market of Kabacan town in North Cotabato, wounding four bystanders.

Station dxMS, being run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, has been airing "Radio Kalimudan," a nightly program critical of the MILF.

Just five minutes after the blast, bomb experts recovered a dud grenade in the garage of the radio station, reportedly hurled by motorcycle-riding men from busy Sinsuat Avenue.

Muslim religious leaders here have called on the MILF to spare the city from continuing guerrilla attacks.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, however, denied any involvement of their forces in Thursday’s attacks.

"Our forces only attack military targets in carrying out their counter-offensives. Besides, it is Ramadan and our fighters are restrained in their positions in keeping with the fasting season," Kabalu said.