2 hurt in lodging house explosion

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A powerful explosion ripped through a lodging house here Tuesday night, wounding two workers and causing panic in the city’s commercial district.

Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, city police chief, said the explosive, fashioned from a mortar projectile rigged with a battery-operated blasting mechanism, was left by two men who occupied Room 319 of the Agong Lodge located at the third floor of a building overlooking the city plaza.

Datu Teng Walih, manager of the lodging house, and employee Dagadas Pantao were wounded in the blast.

The two told investigators that they are convinced that the bombing was the handiwork of terrorists. – John Unson, Jaime Laude