Army, cops halt rebel plan to bomb bus plying Bukidnon, Cotabato

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguin­danao – The heavy presence of soldiers and policemen along highways thwarted an attempt the other day by suspected Moro extremists to bomb a bus plying the Bukidnon-North Cotabato route, authorities said.

Major Marlowe Patria, newly installed civil-military relations chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said their intelligence agents in Carmen, North Cotabato, have confirmed that a bomber disguised as passenger was forced to hastily drop through an open window an improvised explosive device he was to plant inside a unit of the Rural Transit Bus while in Carmen town.

The IED, fashioned from a live mortar round, went off and exploded along a stretch of the highway in Barangay Takepan in the same town.

The spokesperson of the North Cotabato police, Senior Inspector Joyce Birrey, have confirmed that witnesses saw a burly man throw a bag containing the IED out of the bus after he overheard one of the passengers telling the driver in Cebuano to drive slowly due to the presence of several roadside joint Army-police checkpoint in a barangay nearby.

“The bomber obviously panicked and decided to dispose the IED. It exploded several minutes after it landed in an open field,” Birrey told reporters.

Patria said the commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Major Gen. Anthony Alcantara, placed the entire North Cotabato province under full alert since last week due to circulating text messages purporting that terrorists are to bomb public places and buses in the area.

“The 6th ID is not taking chances. It’s better to be ready always even if these text massages could possibly be pranks,” Patria said.

Patria said the Army’s 602nd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over most towns in North Cotabato, has fielded more than a hundred intelligence agents in strategic areas in the province to help the provincial police monitor suspicious movements of armed groups and the extortion gangs.

The other day’s IED blast in Carmen was North Cotabato’s third in just two months.

Eleven passengers were killed last October when a powerful IED blast ripped through a unit of the Rural Transit Bus in Matalam, North Cotabato, in an attack authorities said was planned and carried out by newly trained guerilla ordnance operatives.

Three bombers have been arrested in connection with the deadly bus bombing, now detained at the North Cotabato provincial jail, awaiting prosecution.

The bus bombing was followed by premature IED explosion near the municipal bus terminal of Carmen that left a bystander dead and caused serious injuries to three others.

Police and Army probers said the IED was to be rigged by a bomber in a bus plying the Bukidnon-North Cotabato route, but went off prematurely while the suspect was waiting for the first bus to reach the terminal from Bukidon.

Patria said Army agents have also been helping the provincial police monitor the activities of the dreaded Al-Khobar extortion ring, which has been preying on bus companies and commercial establishments in Central Mindanao.

The Al-Khobar gang, which is composed of “jihadists” and rogue Moro rebels, has claimed responsibility for the spate of recent bombings in Central Min­danao.