3 wounded in N. Cotabato explosions

COTABATO CITY ,Philippines  – At least three persons were wounded in separate bombing incidents in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato Friday night and near the 32-hectare compound of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao yesterday morning.

James Barte and Dave Potenciano sustained shrapnel wounds when an improvised explosive device (IED) rocked the equipment warehouse of a construction company in Barangay Balogo in Pigca-wayan town.

Pigcawayan’s municipal police chief, Senior Inspector Donald Cabigas, said two men were seen near the makeshift encampment of the workers of China Water and Electric Corp. in Barangay Balogo before a loud explosion was heard.

The blast damaged a concrete shaver, dump trucks and backhoe of the construction firm, which is rehabilitating portions of the Cotabato-Davao Highway.

Cabigas said extortionists could be behind the bombing.

The management of the construction firm received a letter from an anonymous sender demanding P5 million “protection money” prior to the attack.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Esmael was wounded in a grenade blast near the office of the ARMM Regional Ports Management Authority (RPMA).

A police report stated that two men approached the premises of the RPMA office, hurled a fragmentation grenade toward its entrance and left.

The bombing near the RPMA building came only 30 minutes after another IED explosion rocked the premises of the ARMM compound.

No one was hurt or killed in the explosion, but the incident triggered panic among more than 200 joggers in the ARMM compound.

Army bomb experts also found another IED planted nearby.