2 hurt in North Cotabato roadside bombing

MAKILALA, North Cotabato -- Amotorist and a bystander were injured when a roadside bomb planted along Makilala-Tacurong City highway went off Monday morning, police said.Police Officer 2 Ritchie Gesulga, chief of the Police Community Relations of the Makilala PNP, identified the victims as Antonio Jalamodia, motorcycle driver and Anisali Tapia, resident of Kilometer-5, Barangay San Vicente in Makilala. Police said Jalamodia was heading towards Kilometer-5 while Tapia was standing outside his house at Barangay San Vicente when the explosion happened. Both suffered minor injuries and were rushed to nearby hospital, the police said. Reports reaching Makilala PNP said that 30 minutes before the blast, at least seven males -- all dressed in civilian clothes, arrived at the warehouse owned by Farma Rubber Industries, Inc., at Barangay San Vicente. Five of them were holding folders who posted as applicants to Pharma Industries, reports added. Gesulga said that when inside the warehouse, two of the suspects immediately poked guns in the head of two security guards on duty and disarmed them afterwards. According to Gesulga, the suspects snatched from Ronald Apora, Pharma security guard, his M16 issued armalite rifle four magazines for short firearms a magazine for long firearm one two-way radio and a mobile phone. Apora told Gesulga that he tried to grab from the suspects his gun but was overpowered later. After they snatched his gun, magazines, and radio equipment, the suspects boarded two motorcycles without plate cards and headed towards Barangay Luna Sur, a known exit area in Makilala town used by New Peoples’ Army (NPA) rebels. Minutes later after the rebels’ withdrawals, an IED went off hitting two persons. Gesulga said the IED was meant for soldiers or police who would be deployed to run after the suspects. We were lucky we arrived earlier and that the bomb went off prematurely,” said Gesulga. The Makilala PNP is looking at extortion as the likely motive for the attack.