Soldier injured in Maguindanao roadside bombing
Local News • 01:27 AM Wed Sep 7, 2016
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By:
John Unson
Capt. Jo-ann petinglay/6th ID spokesperson
MAGUINDANAO --- A soldier was injured in another roadside bombing by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) Tuesday in Datu Saudi town.
The wounded soldier, Sgt. Ricor Bati-on, is now confined in a hospital.
Bati-on and his companions were on their way to a secluded barangay west of Datu Saudi town in the second district of Maguindanao to verify the reported presence there of gunmen mulcting money from peasants when BIFF bandits detonated the bomb planted along their path.Responding Army and police ordnance experts said the improvised explosive device was fashioned from a mortar round rigged with a blasting mechanism that can be detonated from a distance using a mobile phone.
Local officials said they have received information from barangay residents purporting that the BIFF was behind the roadside bombing.The group has perpetrated more than a dozen roadside bombings in the past 12 months in Maguindanao’s adjoining Datu Saudi, Salibo, Shariff Saidona and Datu Piang towns.Captain Joann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said personnel of Army units in Datu Saudi are now in pursuit of the BIFF bandits who planted and set off the IED that injured Bati-on.