3 soldiers hurt in Midsayap town blast

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Three soldiers were injured Friday as bandits set off a roadside bomb near a spring where the victims were to fetch drinking water in Barangay Nabalawag in Midsayap town in the province.

The victims, Sergeants Rudolfo Ubugan, Remond Sapun, and Erick Naranjo, who sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of their bodies, were rushed to a military hospital inside Camp Siongco of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

The victims all belong to an artillery unit assigned at the headquarters of the Charlie Company of the 40th IB in Barangay Nabalawag in the southwestern part of Midsayap.

The victims, all unarmed, were to fetch drinking water from a spring about 200 meters from their base when an improvised explosive device, fashioned from a live 60 MM mortar and planted along a trail, exploded.

Police investigators said the IED was set off using a mobile phone attached to its battery-operated blasting mechanism.

The injured soldiers were supposed to bring water in containers to a mosque near their base to be used for ablution by Muslim villagers prior to their Friday obligatory noontime Jumaah prayer.

Captain Tony Bulao, spokesman of the Army’s 603rd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over military units in Midsayap and nearby North Cotabato towns, said local officials have confirmed that members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were responsible for the roadside bombing, the fifth in Midsayap this month.

BIFF bandits had earlier blasted powerful IEDs in one bombing after another in Midsayap’s adjoining Barangays Baliki and Nes, and near a branch of the money remittance firm MLhuillier at the municipal center.