Army tanks deployed in Maguindanao's Mamasapano town hall to support group troops as all-out offensive operation is going on against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters., a month after the Jan. 25 bloody Mamasapano clash. Troops are trying to capture bomb maker Basit Usman. (Mindanao Examiner Photo - Mark Navales)
MAGUINDANAO – Security forces on Tuesday disarmed a powerful explosive planted near a hardware store in Kabacan town in the southern Filipino province of North Cotabato, officials said.
Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, a spokeswoman for the 6th Infantry Division, said a civilian discovered the bomb and immediately alerted authorities about it. She said troops and policemen cordoned off the area after evacuating civilians and disabled the bomb planted near Simuay Hardware.
“The EOD team successfully diffused the IED. Its components are still yet to be confirmed,” she said.
It was not immediately known if the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters were behind the failed bombing, but the military recently launched an all-out war against the jihadist group.
The military has launched an all-out war against the rag-tag group it blamed for the series of bombings and attacks on civilians in the restive region.
The fresh offensive came a month after BIFF and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels ambushed 44 police commandos who killed a Malaysian bomber Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan during a secret anti-terror operation deep inside the MILF territory in Tukanalipao village in Maguindanao’s Mamasapano town on January 25.
Police and military accused the MILF – which signed a peace deal with Manila last year – of coddling Marwan and the BIFF. But the MILF denied the accusations and said police commandos attacked its members that sparked daylong clashes.
About a dozen commandos, who survived the carnage, said MILF and BIFF attacked them while exiting from the village. Marwan’s thatched house was later torched by an unidentified group, but security officials believed the MILF burned the hideout to destroy any evidence that may link the rebel group to the group of the slain Malaysian terrorist, Kumpulan Malaysia.
Police commandos were on their way to re-join more than 300 SAF members deployed near the village after killing Marwan and cutting off his finger for DNA analysis when MILF forces, aided by BIFF ambushed them. (Mindanao Examiner)
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