Pikit farmer foils powerful blast

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — A Muslim peasant on Saturday foiled an attempt by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters to set off a powerful roadside bomb along a busy street in Pikit, North Cotabato.

Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers managed to immediately remove the blasting mechanism of the improvised explosive device after having been informed by a farmer, who noticed the bomb along Datu Piang Street in the town proper of Pikit.

Petinglay said the tipster, whose identity she declined to reveal for security reasons, first noticed the electrical wires dangling from the box containing the IED, prompting him to immediately report what he saw to the nearby headquarters of the Army's 7th Infantry Battalion.

"We ought to thank the vigilant informant. Through his vigilance, the police and military succeeded in preventing another bomb explosion in the town center of Pikit," Petinglay said.

She said intelligence agents of the 7th IB are now helping the Pikit municipal police determine the identities of the two suspects that left the IED along a busy stretch of Datu Piang Street some 20 minutes before a Muslim farmer noticed and reported its presence to authorities.

The two suspects, riding a motorcycle together, casually pulled over along the street, left the box containing the IED and hurriedly sped away.

Barangay folks are convinced the brigand BIFF was responsible for the attempt to set off a roadside bomb in retaliation for losses in encounters with the Army in nearby towns last week. 

Pikit is a known gateway to the vast Liguasan Delta, a haven of the BIFF.