Soldiers foil roadside bomb attack

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Soldiers defused a bomb planted along the Cotabato-Isulan highway in this province yesterday.

Police and Army personnel closed a stretch of the highway at the border of Shariff Aguak and Datu Unsay towns for about an hour after the bomb was discovered, Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello of the Maguindanao police said.

Local officials said members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters could have planted the improvised explosive device.

On Sunday night, a grenade explosion ripped through a detachment of the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Dualing, Aleosan, North Cotabato. No one was reported hurt in the explosion, but it triggered panic among residents.