2 suspected bombers among 4 hurt in 'premature' explosion

KORONADAL CITY – Four people, including a five-year-old girl and two suspected bombers, were wounded when an improvised bomb went off prematurely in a remote town at the Maguindanao-Sultan Kudarat boundary Thursday night, authorities said.

Police and military officials identified the victims as Dina Aguacito Varona, 44; Claren Velasco, five, both of Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat; and Narris Guiadel, 26, and Mohalidin Singon, 32, both Maguindanaons from Shariff Aguak town.

Chief Superintendent Felizardo Serapio, Central Mindanao police director, said the bomb exploded in front of a store along the national highway in Barangay Saliao, Esperanza town.

Police have placed Guiadel and Singon in their custody as they were suspected of carrying the bomb.

“They are still under investigation. Our investigators are still determining their alleged involvement in the bomb blast at around 7:10 p.m. Thursday, ” Serapio told The STAR in a long-distance interview.

Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command, said what happened could be a “premature explosion.”

“The improvised explosive device went off shortly after it was left. That explains why the two suspects, who were riding a motorcycle, were also hit just as they were about to leave the area,” he said.

As of press time, Serapio could not yet say what type of bomb went off, but said, “The bomb gadgets given by the US government would be of great help to identify it.”

Earlier, the US government, through its embassy in Manila, gave more than P10 million worth of bomb gadgets to the Central Mindanao police to help ordnance experts in their investigation.

The blast occurred as police and the military were putting security measures in place for the commemoration of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day this weekend.

Military officials in Socsksargen (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City) said they got intelligence reports that the groups led by rogue Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commanders Ameril Ombra Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo might resort to bombing attacks to divert the attention of government troops pursuing them.

Kato and Macapaar are both wanted for leading attacks on villages in Sarangani, North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte provinces last August.

Three days ago, the military foiled a suspected MILF plot to bomb a bus station in Kabacan, North Cotabato with the discovery of an improvised bomb placed in a carton box. – With James Mananghaya, Cecille Suerte Felipe and John Unson