Blast rocks N. Cotabato market

KABACAN, North Cotabato, Philippines – A day after suspected bandits blasted a power relay tower in Pikit town, another bomb exploded at a public market here Monday.

No one was hurt in the blast that occurred at the Kabacan municipal market.

Lt. Col. Audie Edralin, chief of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion, said the improvised explosive device (IED) was placed under a stall.

The explosion occurred less than 24 hours after bandits bombed a power post of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines in Barangay Batulawan in Pikit.

The bombers strapped an IED around the post and detonated it from a distance using a mobile phone.

The blast caused a three-hour power outage in many areas in Cotabato City and the adjoining North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces.