COTABATO CITY – A bomb explosion late Thursday has injured several people in Cotabato City in southern Philippines where security forces are battling separatist rebels in the restive region.
Initial reports said the blast occurred near the Petron gasoline station in downtown Cotabato and that at least 2 students were wounded in the attack. The wounded were rushed to the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center.
Other reports said several more were slightly injured in the bombing near Sinsuat Avenue. The blast occurred just as people were returning home from work.
Captain Jo Ann Petinglay, a spokeswoman for the 6th Infantry Division, said a 60mm mortar exploded along Sinsuat Avenue, injuring Leslie Encina, 18, and Kristel Mae Uy, 20.
She said an unidentified man hurled the improvised explosive. Soldiers on a passing military truck witnessed the incident, she said. “According to one of the soldiers, he saw a person throw a package which eventually exploded,” Petinglay told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
She said the police were investigating the blast.
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.
The attack occurred as Philippine military chief General Gregorio Catapang inspected troops at the 6th Infantry Division in nearby Maguindanao province.
Rebels also ambushed three soldiers on November 18 in the town of Datu Piang in Maguindanao and killing an army major and two privates who were travelling in a car. The soldiers also lost their weapons to the rebels. Their identities were withheld by the 6th Infantry Division.
It was the second attack in recent days 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. (Mindanao Examiner – Mark Navales and Ely Dumaboc)
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