Thanks to alert passersby, bomb attempt foiled

COTABATO CITY — Army bomb experts foiled the other night what could have been the fifth bombing in this city since January.

Capt. Ferdinand Escalante, chief of the Army’s 6th Explosives and Ordnance Detachment here, said the bomb, which they safely detonated using a smaller explosive, was fashioned from a live round of 60 mm mortar rigged with a battery-operated, time-delayed blasting device.

The improvised bomb, neatly wrapped and placed inside a box, was left in front of a bicycle store along a busy street at the city’s main commercial district.

Escalante said it was just fortunate that passersby noticed the explosive and immediately informed the police about it.

The foiled bombing attempt came less than a week after simultaneous explosions rocked Tacurong City, about 112 kilometers from this city, leaving four people wounded.

Army intelligence agents blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for the bomb attacks in Tacurong City, reportedly to divert the military’s attention from its continuing operations against rebel forces in nearby Maguindanao.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said military agents are now helping the local police identify those behind the foiled bombing try the other night.

Police suspect that extortionists could have been behind it to intimidate businessmen who refuse to shell out protection money to them.