3 roadside blasts rock Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Three roadside explosions yesterday rocked the national highway linking the towns of Datu Saudi and Datu Piang and a secluded stretch in Guindulungan, all in Maguindanao, just as ordnance experts foiled another attempt to bomb a bus in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

Police and military officials suspect that Moro rebel factions planted the bombs on the highway to sabotage the delivery of relief goods to evacuation sites or disrupt the continuing military operations in Datu Saudi and Datu Piang.

The Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade said the first bomb went off along the highway in Barangay Ilian, Datu Saudi.

Responding Army bomb experts, in a report to the 6th Infantry Division here, said the bombs were fashioned from live mortar rounds and B-40 anti-tank rockets.

“These anti-tank rockets are armaments of the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front),” said Col. Medardo Geslani, commander of the 601st IB.

Geslani said another bomb, fashioned from an 81-mm mortar projectile, also went off along a portion of the Cotabato-Isulan Highway in Barangay Macasampen, Guindulungan town, forcing soldiers to close isolated stretches of the thoroughfare for hours as they scoured for more explosives.

There were no reports of casualties in the blasts, which, however, sowed panic among the villagers, Geslani said.

MILF guerrillas have been tagged in more than 30 roadside bombings since late last year along highways criss-crossing the adjoining Maguindanao towns of Datu Saudi, Datu Piang, Datu Unsay, Shariff Aguak, Mamasapano, Talayan and Guindulungan, killing nine people and wounding more than a dozen others.

The worst bombing occurred last month near a spring in Datu Unsay, killing a soldier and his wife and seriously wounding four others, including a young Army lieutenant.

Meanwhile, Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the 6th ID, said soldiers and policemen foiled yesterday an attempt by Islamic militants to bomb a bus of the Rural Transit Co. in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

Ponce said workers of the bus company found the improvised explosive neatly placed inside the bus’ baggage compartment, before it could explode.

Chief Inspector Franklin Anito, Kabacan police chief, said the bomb was fashioned from a live 60-mm mortar projectile attached to a cell phone as its triggering mechanism.

Anito said the bus company has confirmed having received letters from suspected members of the Al-Khobar extortion ring demanding “monthly protection money.”

Nine people were seriously injured in a blast at a public terminal in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat Saturday.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied any involvement of their fighters in the Tacurong City attack and in yesterday’s foiled bombing in Kabacan.

Kabalu said the MILF is a revolutionary organization fighting for Moro rule in Mindanao’s Muslim communities and not a criminal gang.