Army units help in securing bombed NCotabato towns

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  --- The Army’s 6th Infantry Division deployed on Monday two groups of intelligence operatives in North Cotabato’s adjoining Kabacan and Mlang towns to help the police guard against a repeat of the recent bombings there.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of 6th ID, said agents of the 602nd Brigade and the Army Special Forces contingent in North Cotabato are also helping the police gather information on the identities of the bombers and the  motives for the attacks.

Hermoso however said their efforts are meant to support the  police actions on the bombings in Kabacan and Mlang.

Unidentified bombers blasted fragmentation grenades at the home yard of Mlang’s municipal agriculturist, Federico Porras on Sunday night, just hours after suspected extortionists set off an improvised explosive device (IED) at a commercial district in Kabacan, scene of some 10 bombing incidents in the past six months. 

No one was hurt in the bombing of the house of Porras, chief of the municipal agricultural office of the local government of Mlang, but the incident forced his family and neighbors to leave and return only after responding policemen declared the area cleared of any unexploded ordnance.

The grenade incident in Mlang came after an  explosion ripped through a commercial district in Kabacan. No one was reported killed or injured in the incident, but the explosion triggered panic in the area.

Hermoso said commanders of Army units in Mlang and Kabacan have enlisted the help of local religious leaders in identifying the people behind the bombings.