NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – Police and Army intelligence operatives launched Thursday a massive search for a missing ethnic Maguindanaon who was badly injured in Saturday night’s bombing in Kabacan town.
Supt. Leo Ajero, chief of the Kabacan municipal police, said the missing Alex Manisi of Barangay Patadon n Kidapawan City, could be the courier of the improvised explosive used in the bombin
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Ajero said investigators believe the home-made explosive device Manisi was to plant at the entrance of either the Sugni Superstore, or Laira Marketing along a national highway straddling through the town center of Kabacan could have exploded prematurely.
“The bomb went off at a concrete gutter, along the highway, between the two establishments,†Ajero said.
Ajero said there were indications that the bomb exploded while Manisi was to bring it to the establishment they were to bomb.
Witnesses said a man, who was later identified as Manisi, was seen being carried by companions away from scene of the explosion.
Ajero said they recovered an abandoned motorcycle not far from the spot where the bomb went off.
Ajero said they received a tip that Manisi was rushed by his still unidentified companions to a hospital inside the campus of the University of Southern Mindanao, but failed to locate him there.
“Accordingly, he was rushed to a hospital in Cotabato City, where he later died. We’re now investigating on this,†Ajero said.
Manisi’s cadaver was reportedly buried right away by his relatives in keeping with an Islamic tradition of burying their dead within 24 hours after death.