COTABATO CITY – Security forces on Thursday foiled a deadly attack following the discovery of a powerful improvised explosive inside a provincial bus in Tacurong City in southern Philippines, officials said.
Captain Jo-ann Petinglay, a spokeswoman for the 6th Infantry Division, said the improvised explosive – assembled from two 60mm mortar bombs – was discovered during an inspection at a security checkpoint manned by policemen.
She said members of the army’s 33rd Explosive Ordnance Division recovered the bomb and safely disrupted the explosive outside the bus, operated by Yellow Bus Line.
“The bus was heading to Isulan town when it was stopped at the checkpoint for security inspection. The IED was found inside the bus during inspection and later disrupted by the EOD team,” Petinglay told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the foiled bombing of the bus, but previous attacks were largely blamed by the police and military to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and breakaway groups of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Petinglay said security remains tight in central Mindanao where police and military forces put up checkpoints and roadblocks to prevent the smuggling of weapons and explosives by rebel groups.
Troops were still pursuing the BIFF in the region following a month long assault on the separatist group that official claimed had killed more than 100 gunmen in Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the troubled Muslim autonomous region. (Mindanao Examiner)
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