2 bombing attempts in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao foiled

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao, Philippines – Ordnance experts yesterday foiled separate attempts to bomb a public terminal in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat and topple down a power relay post in Guindulungan, Maguindanao.

Col. Prudencio Asto, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said military and police operatives first managed to deactivate an improvised explosive left at the terminal in Tacurong City.

The bomb, fashioned from two live 81-mm projectiles and rigged with a battery-operated blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone and neatly placed in a black attaché case, was found by bystanders who, in turn, promptly informed the Tacurong City police.

“The (improvised explosive) was designed to kill as many people because it was made up of two very powerful 81-mm mortar rounds,” Asto said.

Just three hours later, Army bomb experts safely detonated another improvised bomb left beside a post of the Maguindanao Electric Cooperative along the highway in Barangay Macasampen, Guindulungan town.

The post carries high-tension power lines connecting several towns in the second district of Maguindanao to a relay facility in Datu Saudi town.

“It seems there was an attempt to cut the supply of electricity in several towns in the province,” Asto said.

The twin foiled bombing attempts came on the heels of last week’s death of two suspected bombers in Kidapawan City when the improvised explosive they were bringing to a public terminal prematurely went off.