Cops clueless on suspects behind NCotabato explosion

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Investigators are still clueless on who were behind Monday’s powerful roadside bombing in Barangay Sibsib in Tulunan, North Cotabato.

No one was reported killed or injured in the explosion, but the incident triggered panic in the surroundings of Barangay Sibsib, an agricultural enclave in the northwest of Tulunan.

Senior Inspector Ronnie Cordero, municipal police chief, said the improvised explosive device used in the bombing was fashioned from a live 81-millimeter mortar projectile rigged with a battery-operated blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone.

There are merchants in Barangay Sibsib that have long been complaining of attempts by extortion groups to mulct money from them, even threatening to bomb their establishments if they refuse to shell out “protection money” on a regular basis.

The roadside bomb could have exploded prematurely, said Cordero.

“It went off at a time when there were no vehicles passing by,” he said.

Tulunan is not far from the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta, a known lair of extortion gangs, and also within reach of communist rebels operating at the border of Davao del Sur and North Cotabato.