Powerful bomb found on Kudarat highway

KORONADAL CITY — The police and the military claimed to have foiled a plan to bomb the cities of Tacurong and Koronadal with the discovery of a powerful bomb with a timing device along the national highway in Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat yesterday morning.

Superintendent Suharto Tocao, Sultan Kudarat police director, said police and military officers manning a checkpoint found the bomb along the highway in Barangay Dukay.

Tocao said the bomb was placed inside the gas compartment of an abandoned yellow Skygo motorcycle. He refused to disclose the motorcycle’s license plate pending investigation.

He suspects that the motorcycle was driven by men allegedly with links to the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah operating in Central Mindanao.

These men were supposedly heading toward the cities of Tacurong and Koronadal, passing through Isulan, the capital town of Sultan Kudarat, Tocao said.

Army ordnance experts brought the bomb to the 604th Infantry Brigade in Tacurong for proper disposition.

According to bomb experts, the explosive could have caused more damage than in past bombings in the region.

Tocao ordered all police stations, especially in Tacurong, to put tight security measures in place in public places to prevent bombing attacks. — With Jaime Laude