Bomb explodes in University of the Southern Mindanao campus

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines  --- A powerful explosion ripped through the campus of the biggest state-run school in the province Sunday night, causing panic among its faculty members and students.

The blast behind the administration office of the 6,000-hectare campus of the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan town  shattered the glass panes of the building, scattering pieces of broken glass around its premises.

Chief Inspector Jordine Maribojo, Kabacan municipal police chief, said investigators recovered fragments of mortar projectiles around the spot where the improvised explosive went off.

Maribojo said the bomb could have been set off from a distance using a mobile phone attached to its blasting mechanism.

“None was hurt in the explosion, but the incident caused panic among people in the surroundings,” Maribojo said.

Residents of Kabacan, home to mixed Muslim and Christian population, are no stranger to deadly bombings, having witnessed more than 30 attacks in their surroundings the past two years.

The bombing at the university campus was preceded by another attempt Saturday night by members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters to destroy using home-made bombs a bridge in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said, Moro villagers have pointed to two bandit groups led by Abu Sumaya and Montaser Esmael as responsible for the bombing.

The same group had earlier bombed a longer bridge less than a hundred meters away in a dawn attack early this month using explosives fashioned from live mortar rounds rigged with a blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone.

The two bombed out bridges in Barangay Magaslong in Datu Piang were the only links between the town’s trading center key areas in Central Mindanao, where merchants in the municipality sell rice and corn grains and other agricultural products sold to them by local residents.

Engineer James Mlok, chief of the second district engineering office in Maguindanao, said the two bridges remained passable to light vehicles.

“I’m appealing to those behind the bombings to please refrain from destroying government infrastructures built to make the lives of Moro people become convenient. It’s the poor Moro communities that will suffer from the consequences of such acts,” Mlok said via text message. - John Unson