Roadside explosive misses bus

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao, Philippines  – Suspected extortionists yesterday tried to bomb a passenger bus in Buluan town but missed, authorities said.

Maj. Marlowe Patria, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the improvised explosive went off only after the bus had moved away from the spot it was planted.

“It exploded quite late so no one was killed or injured in the explosion. It caused panic in the area nonetheless,” Patria said.

Col. Romeo Mendoza, commander of the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade based in Tacurong City, said the bomb was fashioned from a 60-mm mortar rigged with an improvised, battery-operated blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone.

Police said witnesses saw three men, including a teenager, tinkering with something at the site about two hours before the explosion.

More than 20 bus passengers have been killed in a spate of bus bombings in Central Mindanao in the past five years.

The military yesterday fielded 50 more intelligence agents in public terminals in Central Mindanao to help the police prevent bombings by Moro jihadis and extortion syndicates following last Monday’s deadly bus bombing in Makati City.

Patria said the deployment of more plainclothes operatives in strategic spots in the region is in response to the public clamor for the military to tighten security due to fears of renewed attacks by armed lawless groups and extortionists.

North Cotabato Gov. Lala Mendoza has called on authorities to deploy “bus marshals” to secure buses plying her province.