Koronadal bus blast prompts police alert

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines – Police units in Central Mindanao have been ordered to closely watch all private and public terminals, including vital government installations, to prevent a repeat of the bomb explosion that ripped through a passenger bus here Saturday, injuring five people.

Chief Superintendent Fidel Cimatu, Central Mindanao police director, said he directed the 4,000-strong regional police force to beef up their defense system and coordinate with their military counterparts in monitoring the presence and movement of suspicious-looking persons in the vicinity of public and private terminals.

Cimatu said he also advised his men to secure the sites of vital government installations, conduct checkpoints and “exhaustively inspect” all passenger buses, especially those of the Husky Transport Co., the latest target of attacks blamed on extortion groups, particularly the Al-Khobar syndicate.

The police alert was prompted by twin explosions that took place in front of the crowded transport terminal in this city.

Five passengers were wounded when an improvised explosive fashioned from a 60-mm mortar went off in a Husky bus at around 10:15 a.m. Saturday.

Nearly four hours later, another homemade bomb exploded in a second Husky bus, although no one was reported hurt or killed.

The Al-Khobar extortion syndicate might be behind the attacks, Superintendent Froilan Quidilla, city police chief, said in a radio interview.

Quidilla though was not discounting that rival companies might have a hand in the Husky bus bombings.

Senior Superintendent Robert Kiunisala, South Cotabato police director, however, quoted a company executive that they had repeatedly ignored demands to shell out “protection money.”

The Al-Khobar has been tagged in bombings of buses and commercial establishments in Central Mindanao since 2007.

The STAR learned that Saturday’s attacks were the fourth such incident involving Husky buses in three weeks.

Quidilla has deployed K-9 bomb-sniffing dogs to secure the baggage of commuters as well as plainclothes police personnel for intelligence work.

Cimatu and Quidilla appealed to the public to help the police keep watch over their surroundings, saying they play a big role in the fight against terrorism. – With John Unson and Cecille Suerte Felipe