COTABATO CITY – A powerful bomb explosion on New Year’s Eve in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato left over two dozen casualties, various sources said.
The bomb was believed planted on a motorcycle taxi parked outside the South Seas Mall in downtown Cotabato where people gathered to buy gifts for the New Year’s celebration. The attack occurred while the whole region is under an extended martial law due to threats of terrorism.
At least 2 people were reported killed and more than 2 dozen others injured in the blast.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the bombing occurred just as residents were opposing the inclusion of Cotabato to the proposed Bangsamoro autonomous region under the rule of the rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The MILF, which signed an interim peace deal with Manila in 2014, has been campaigning hard in Cotabato for the ratification of the controversial Bangsamoro Organic Law which – if approved in a referendum in January and February – would replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Mayor Frances Cynthia Sayadi has strongly condemned the bombing and calling it terrorism and evil. “We will stand up against terrorism. We will fight against evil,” she said.
“This is not just another terroristic act, but an act against humanity. I cannot fathom how such evil exists in this time of merry making of our fellow Cotabatenios,” Sayadi said.
“It is unimaginable how some people can start the New Year with an act of cruelty but no matter how you threaten us, the people of Cotabato City are resilient and we are stronger than how you think we are,” she added.
In August 2013, a car bomb also exploded along Sinsuat Avenue in Cotabato City and killed at least 8 people and left more than 40 others wounded. (Mindanao Examiner)
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