COTABATO CITY – At least 25 people were killed and injured in a bomb attack late Sunday in North Cotabato’s M’lang town in the southern Philippine province, officials said.
Capt. Jo Ann Petinglay, a spokeswoman for the 6th Infantry Division, said the blast killed 3 people and left at least 22 more injured near a shopping store in downtown area, but it was unclear whether the attack was the handiwork of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters or other rebel group in the restive region.
The number of casualties is expected to increase as more people were being rushed to the hospital for shrapnel wounds. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but police were investigating the motive of the bombing.
Petinglay released the names of the fatalities as John Lawrence Camiring, Rex Javier and Jade Villarin. And some of the injured have been identified as Roel Cordero, Ian Cris Quintanita, Lovelyn Catinoy, Aljamen Aguirre, Erica Mae Jacinto, Jason Cadungon, Jomar Basas, Kenneth Garcia, Ruth Ignacio, Marjan Billones, Apolinario Egoy, Mike Caba and Amar Patad.
Just recently, an improvised explosive device also went off in Cotabato City and wounding two people – Leslie Encina, 18, and Kristel Mae Uy, 20. The 6th Infantry Division said a 60mm mortar exploded along Sinsuat Avenue.
It said an unidentified man hurled the improvised explosive. Soldiers on a passing military truck witnessed the incident.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but police and military have previously blamed the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters for the spate of bombings and ambuscades in the troubled Muslim autonomous region.
A lone BIFF member also killed three soldiers with the army’s 9th Intelligence Service Unit on November 18 in the town of Datu Piang in Maguindanao. The rebel killed an army major and two privates who were travelling in a car. The soldiers also lost their weapons and a laptop to the attacker.
It was the second attack in recent weeks in Maguindanao when some 500 rebels also assaulted the detachment of the 45th Infantry Battalion in the village of Sapakan in Rajah Buayan town. The attack sparked a six-hour firefight that wounded Corporal Charlie Dilangsoy, and another village in North Cotabato’s Midsayap town. (Mindanao Examiner – Mark Navales)
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