CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – At least 3 people were injured when a bomb explosion ripped through a provincial bus on Thursday in the southern Philippine province of Bukidnon, military officials said.
Officials said the bus, owned by Rural Transit Mindanao, originated from Tacurong City, was traveling to Cagayan de Oro City when the explosion occurred on a highway in Maramag town in Bukidnon province.
The 4th Infantry Division in Cagayan de Oro City said at least 3 passengers were wounded in the blast. “Troops from the 23rd Infantry Battalion and the local police authorities are investigating the explosion that injured three people,” Major Christian Uy, an army spokesman, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
The military’s Western Mindanao Command said the explosion shattered the rear portion of the bus. “The bus sustained damages and the blast shattered the back most portion windows and injured a still undetermined number of passengers,” Captain Maria Rowena Muyuela, a spokeswoman, said, adding, authorities were investigating the cause of the blast.
Initial reports said the explosive was assembled from a 60mm mortar and that broken cell phone parts and debris were recovered in the bus. No individual claimed responsibility for the attack.
Just in April, security forces also recovered an improvised explosive planted on another Rural Transit bus in Tacurong City. The bomb, assembled from a 60mm mortar attached to an old mobile phone and concealed in a cardboard box, was discovered by two passengers and immediately disarmed by soldiers.
But in August 2012, a bomb explosion ripped through a Rural bus in Zamboanga City and wounded at least 5 people, including a boy. The powerful blast tore open the rear and the left side of the bus, which came from Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the bombing, but security forces are battling rebels in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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