Bomb lobbed at videoke bar in Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Unidentified men on Monday night lobbed a small improvised explosive device (IED) in a roadside videoke pub here, sending drinkers, some of them so drunk, running for their lives.

Workers of the Kulolot Videoke House along a highway west of the city told probers the IED, fashioned from a 40 millimeter shoulder-fire projectile rigged with a blasting mechanism, failed to explode.

Responding police and Army bomb experts managed to dispose the IED off safely.

The establishment is near the busy Alnor Commercial Complex, which has restaurants, a hotel and a newly-opened shopping mall.

Investigators are yet to identify the two men behind the bungled bombing attempt.

Bomb experts have not confirmed too if the IED was real, or hoax, only meant to scare customers of the bar.