5 hurt in Koronadal bus blast

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines – A bomb explosion ripped through a passenger bus here yesterday, wounding five people and heightening a security alarm amid fears that separatist guerillas might launch attacks, authorities said.

The improvised explosive, placed at the bus compartment near the driver’s seat, went off in front of the crowded transport terminal here at around 10:15 a.m., Senior Superintendent Robert Kiunisala, South Cotabato police director, told The STAR in a cellular phone interview.

Wounded were the bus conductor, three other men and a Muslim woman. They were identified as Alfie Baluca, Dakilman Usain, Norbaya Coronel, Roldan Tonacao and Rodney Lamoste.

Two of the victims were brought to the Rama Clinic and Hospital, and the rest to the provincial hospital here.

Kiunisala said a woman reportedly carrying a backpack boarded the bus of the Husky Transport Co. as it was cruising the highway in Maguindanao en route to Sultan Kudarat.

He said the bus conductor did not notice if the woman was still carrying the backpack as she and the other passengers disembarked.

The blast was the first incident involving a bus of Husky Transport Co. which plies various routes in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and some parts of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Extortion groups including the Al-Khobar have been tagged in past attacks on passenger buses. – With John Unson and Jaime Laude