DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao, Philippines – Two still unidentified men were killed while two others were wounded when an improvised explosive prematurely went off at the town proper here yesterday morning, authorities said.
Senior Superintendent Marcelo Pintac, Maguindanao police director, said one of the fatalities was a tricycle driver who investigators suspect was to bring the explosive to a busy spot here.
The bomb went off about half a kilometer away from the municipal gymnasium where seven Maguindanao and Iranon mayors belonging to the Association of Iranons and Maguindanaons-7 were holding a peace summit.
Pintac said investigators and Army intelligence operatives were still trying to determine if the bomb was to be brought to the venue of the summit located beside the town hall.
Pintac said the bomb was fashioned from a live mortar round rigged with a battery-operated blasting device attached to a mobile phone.
“We don’t know yet if the bomb courier was to bring the (bomb) to the venue of the gathering of the mayors or elsewhere,” Pintac said.
Two civilians who were hurt in the attack were rushed to a nearby hospital.
Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu was the guest of honor in the summit, one of the highlights of the founding anniversary of this town.
The scene of the blast is not far from the residence of the late Maguindanao board member Russman Sinsuat, who was killed in a roadside bombing in Tacurong City last Aug. 15.
Sinsuat was with the convoy of Mangudadatu when a bomb-laden car parked on the roadside exploded, killing him and a passerby and wounding several others.