Mayor offers reward for info on Cotabato City bombers

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  -- Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. on Tuesday offered a  “bounty” in exchange for any information that would lead to the arrest of the culprits behind Monday’s deadly bombing along  Sinsuat Avenue here.

Eight people were killed while 34 others were wounded in the bombing. Only 13 of the injured remained in hospitals.

Two of the eight fatalities were minors - a nine-year-old and a 14-year-old, according to  investigators.

Guiani said investigators should be careful in gathering evidence and building the case against the bombers.

“I will not reveal how much money will I pay as bounty, but I can discuss it to potential witnesses and informants in my office,” Guiani told reporters.

Guiani, presiding chairman of the city peace and order council, said he believes that the target of the bombing was either him or his sister.

“We received information purporting there are threats on our lives one week before the incident,” Guiani said.

Guiani said the bomb-laden vehicle parked in front of the Villa Funeral Home along Sinsuat Avenue was set off while a convoy, led by his sister, City Administrator Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, was passing by.

The mayor’s sister was riding his dark Blue bulletproof Chevrolet Suburban that was less than 10 meters away from where the car bomb went off.

“It was just fortunate that there were vehicles ahead,” Guiani said.

The explosion triggered a fire that destroyed the Mitsubishi Strada pick-up truck and a mini dump truck ahead of the mayor’s sports utility vehicle.

Senior Supt. Rolen Balquin, director of the Cotabato City police, said scene of crime operatives and combined police and Army bomb experts are still sifting through the scene to determine what kind of explosives were used in the attack.

Balquin said they are now looking into  Guiani's claims.

“Considering there were threats on their lives, we need to look into that angle, without discounting all other possible angles,” Balquin said.

Two motorcycle-riding security escorts of the mayor’s sister, Samsudin Hari, and Yusoph Gadji, were killed in the explosion.

A passerby, SPO4 Mama Manambuay, was declared dead on arrival at the nearby Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC).

Balquin said four were killed on the spot, while four more died in the nearby Cotabato Regional Medical Center -- the two minors and adults Harris Unto and Salipudin Sindatuk.

Among the more than 30 people injured in the blast is a police officer, Chief Inspector Abubakar Mangelen Jr., of an intelligence unit in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police, and a member of a local Special Weapons and Tactics unit, SPO1 Eduardo Malikden.