Army bomb experts defuse 2nd bomb in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY -– Army bomb experts defused in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao a
powerful improvised explosive device at about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Traffic
linking Cotabato City and North Cotabato have been interrupted for about 2
hours while Army bomb experts deactivated the powerful explosive, according to
Colonel Earl Baliao, commander of 603rd Infantry Brigade.

According to Senior
Supt. Nickson Muksan, Maguindanao police director, a plastic bag was left
unattended beside the highway in Barangay Rebuken. In it was the IED wrapped with packing tape.

After Army
bomb experts confirmed it was an IED, traffic was shut down while experts
deactivated the ordnance made of 60 mm mortar with a two-way handheld radio as
trigger mechanism.

Col. Baliao
said a man named Norodin Alba found the suspicious package at about 6 p.m. and
quickly alerted soldiers of the 37th Infantry Battalion in a nearby detachment.

Baliao could
not say to whom the IED was intended for.
He said the Army is helping the police in the investigation.

The deactivated
IED was similar to the one used by unidentified suspects in the Sept 2 Davao City
night market bombing.

Earlier today,
Army Sgt. Ricor Bati-on of the 1st Mechanized
Infantry Brigade was slightly injured when an IED was set off along Barangay
Lower Salbu, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

The blast
which came at about 9:30 a.m. was blamed to the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic
Freedom Fighters (Ferdinand Cabrera)