Powerful bomb found in Kidapawan

DAVAO CITY – Authorities foiled what could have been a powerful explosion in Kidapawan City yesterday morning with the discovery of an improvised explosive device near an old passenger bus terminal.

Maj. Armando Rico, spokesman of the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command, said the explosive was found at around 5:30 a.m. in an unattended box at the terminal’s garbage collection area.

“The bomb could be so powerful that it could destroy buildings and hurt people in the area,” Rico said.

Government forces first cordoned off the area while operatives of the 63rd Explosive Ordnance Detection Team of the Philippine National Police and the Army’s K-9 unit examined the box.

The bomb experts found the improvised explosive consisting of two kilos of TNT as explosive filler, a 60-mm mortar as booster, an electrical blasting cap, a nine-volt battery, a kilogram of size 1 nails, a square plain sheet with shape charge, and a cell phone as triggering device.

Rico said two kilos of TNT could damage buildings within a certain radius, while the 60-mm mortar booster could trigger a powerful explosion.

He said the nails and the square plain sheet used as casing could seriously harm or kill people in the area.

Military and police officials earlier expressed concern that Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels would resort to bombings to retaliate against the government’s recent move to flush them out of more than 15 villages they had occupied in North Cotabato and North Kabuntalan, Maguindanao.

Maj. Gen. Leo Jogy Fojas, commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said he has ordered his troops to secure vital installations in Southern Mindanao to prevent MILF guerrillas from carrying out any attacks.

“We have alerted our troops to secure transmission towers and other vital installations in the region,” he said.

Chief Superintendent Andres Caro II, Southern Mindanao police director, said his command is still on high alert for possible spillover of the hostilities between government and MILF forces in Central Mindanao.

“We have tightened security in places considered to be soft targets of those who could disrupt peace and order (in the region),” Caro said.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied that the front was behind the foiled bombing in Kidapawan, saying, “We do not do such things. It may be them who are involved. How can such a bomb pass through so much security?”

Kidapawan City has been targeted by suspected Muslim militants and extortionists in the past. Last November, a bomb ripped through a shopping mall, killing one and wounding six people.

Police said they found another bomb hanging from an electrical transmission tower in Carmen, North Cotabato. There were no suspects, but authorities have accused the rebels of blowing up power pylons before.

Tensions in Mindanao peaked this week after government troops retook farming villages in North Cotabato from about 1,000 MILF guerrillas who occupied them last month.

Two soldiers and 31 rebels were killed, and about 80,000 civilians had left their homes but have started returning, according to the military.

The conflict came at a crucial juncture in peace negotiations between the government and the MILF, which has been waging a decades-long rebellion for self-rule.

The two sides, which signed a 2003 ceasefire, had reached agreement on the size of a future expanded Muslim homeland. But the signing of the accord was halted last week by the Supreme Court, which acted on a petition filed by Christian politicians wary of losing land and power to Muslims.

The court is scheduled to hear arguments today, but it is not clear when it would rule on the petition. – With John Unson and AP