Cotabato City police still clueless on blast

COTABATO CITY – Investigators still have no solid clues on the identities of the two motorcycle-riding men (not one as earlier reported) who were killed when a powerful bomb they were supposed to bring somewhere in the city prematurely exploded the other day.

Police found three mangled feet within a 600-meter radius from the spot where the bomb went off.

The powerful blast occurred less than a kilometer away from the 9,000-square-meter People’s Palace, as the new City Hall is called, where administration senatorial candidates, among them Miguel Zubiri, actor Cesar Montano, and Prospero Pichay held a brief campaign rally about two hours before the incident.

Re-electionist Mayor Muslimin Sema said he is convinced the supposed bombing was aimed at embarrassing his administration.

"It was just fortunate that the bombers failed to accomplish their satanic mission," he said, without elaborating.

Senior Superintendent Paniarez Adap, city police chief, said the supposed bombers failed to bring the improvised explosive to their target due to the checkpoints put up in strategic areas in the city’s 37 barangays to secure both administration and opposition senatorial candidates campaigning here.

"It could also be possible that the motorcycle-riding bombers were mere couriers and did not know that the bomb was rigged with a time-delayed, battery-operated blasting mechanism," Adap said.

Army intelligence sources said the bomb-laden motorcycle bore the signature of the Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for recent bombings in Central Mindanao, including the Jan. 10 simultaneous attacks here and in the cities of General Santos and Kidapawan.

Operatives of the Army’s 6th Ordnance and Explosives Detachment said the bomb that killed the two men could have been fashioned from a "highly explosive charge," as shown in its very wide shock wave, felt within a radius of more than a kilometer.

"I saw a ball of fire and heavy black smoke right at the spot where the (bomb) exploded," said Evelyn Escleto, who resides two blocks away.

Barangay officials said two children sustained minor injuries from the explosion and were discharged from the hospital after receiving first aid.