Bomber killed, cop wounded in failed checkpoint attack

A suspected bomber was killed while a policeman was wounded in what appeared to be a miscalculated attack on a police checkpoint in Sultan Kudarat Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, three people, including a policeman, were wounded in a grenade explosion in General Santos City while a bombing attempt was foiled on a passenger bus, also in Sultan Kudarat.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said the bomber, who remained unidentified, was killed by an improvised explosive device that went off prematurely.

Brawner said the suspect, who was driving a tricycle to unload sacks of charcoal near the police checkpoint in Esperanza town, panicked when he saw policemen approaching him.

The bomb, which was hidden in a bag of charcoal, went off before the suspect could ram the roadblock and escape, officials said.

One of the policemen manning the roadblock at the boundary of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao was wounded.

Another police outpost was attacked in General Santos City by two men who hurled a grenade, wounding two women and a policeman.

Senior Superintendent Robert Po, city police chief, identified the wounded lawman as PO1 Jake Caronica and the two civilians as a certain Joy and Lizel.

Police said the attackers, riding tandem on a motorcycle, lobbed the grenade at the police outpost at the intersection of Jose Catolico and Tiongzon streets in Barangay Lagao late Tuesday.

Po said the two women were waiting for a ride in front of the police outpost when the grenade was lobbed, hitting them and Caronica, who was the duty officer at the police outpost.

On the other hand, authorities foiled a bombing attempt after a powerful improvised explosive device was recovered on a passenger bus in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat yesterday. 

Senior Superintendent Benhur Mongao, Sultan Kudarat police director, said the cell phone-activated bomb was discovered by police bomb-sniffing dogs inspecting the baggage of passengers. – With Ramil Bajo and James Mananghaya