Another blast rocks Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  – An explosion rocked an area near the compound of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) government here early yesterday.

Police said no one was reported killed or injured in the blast, the second to rock the city in 24 hours.

Police found traces of an improvised explosive device (IED), fashioned from an 81mm mortar projectile rigged with a battery-operated blasting device attached to a mobile phone.

The bomb was left inside a jeepney parked on a road leading to the ARMM compound.

Two IEDs were reportedly placed in the jeepney, with license plates MVG 679, but only one went off, police said.

The unexploded bomb was recovered at the rear portion of the jeepney that was ripped by the explosion.

Responding Army ordnance operatives managed to deactivate the unexploded bomb by disconnecting its improvised circuitry that was attached to a cellular phone.

Western Mindanao Intelligence and Police Operations director Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu said it was just fortunate that the IED left inside the passenger jeep exploded at a time when establishments nearby were still closed and traffic was not heavy.

Khu said they are still trying to determine if the bombing incident was aimed at scaring applicants for acting governor of ARMM.

The bomb went off a few meters away from where many ARMM employees and officials usually pass on their way to work.

On Tuesday, roadside bombs went off as Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo was visiting the city.

Robredo said it’s too early to conclude he was the target but Khu said an investigation is ongoing.

Robredo said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is ready to offer a reward to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the bombers.

“If we need to offer reward (for the arrest of the bombers), we will,” he said.

Khu said the recovered bomb could be one of the explosives that were slipped into Cotabato City last Sept. 3.

Khu said yesterday’s explosion was only triggered by the blasting cap that failed to ignite the main charge, which is a round of 81mm mortar.

“The cellphone which was rigged to trigger remotely the IED was ringing, prompting delay of the EOD (explosive ordnance and disposal) unit delay in retrieving the bomb,” Khu said.

Khu said they have yet to determine the signature mark of the bomb recovered. “Although the cellphone triggered type of IED has the signature of Basit Usman’s group,” he said.

Usman is tagged as a locally trained Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) also wanted by the US government with a US$1-million bounty on his head.

Khu said the two bombs that exploded Tuesday were traced to be part of the bombs manufactured by the group of Usman.

According to Khu, the police units and the marines have been alerted to track down the three remaining bombs.

Yesterday’s bomb blast near the gate of the ARMM compound was preceded by an explosion near the premises of the Notre Dame Hospital, just as the public forum at the ARMM compound was about to start.

The EID used in the bombing was identical to one that exploded inside the passenger jeep parked near the gate of the ARMM compound.

“After the blast, our troops were immediately dispatched to the area and immediately coordinated with the Philippine National Police (PNP),” Armed Forces of the Philippines Public Information Office (PIO) chief Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos added.

Burgos said the military in the region is helping out the police in trying to identify the culprits in the bombings.

Burgos said the military troops are now actively supporting ongoing police efforts to address the situation.

The PNP, on the other hand, assured the series of bomb blasts in Cotabato will not spill over in Metro Manila.

National police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said the bomb attacks will not likely happen in Metro Manila since the PNP has adopted measures to protect soft targets.

“Our intelligence (unit) has yet to monitor or receive information that what is happening in Cotabato will spill over into the metropolis,” Cruz added.

Cruz also said it would be too early to tell if the bombing attacks were directed at Robredo.

PNP chief Deputy Director General Nicanor Bartolome has ordered all police regions nationwide to adopt the three-tiered defense plan and improve the security measures in mass transportation systems.

Bartolome added measures on target hardening were also in place in “soft targets” like economic key points, including malls, parks and other places of convergence. – With Roel Pareño, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Jaime Laude, AP