3 soldiers hurt in Cotabato blast

NORTH COTABATO , Philippines   â€“ Three soldiers were badly wounded yesterday as bandits of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) set off a roadside bomb near a spring where the troopers were to fetch drinking water in Barangay Nabalawag, Midsayap town this province.

Sergeants Rudolfo Ubugan, Remond Sapun, and Erick Naranjo sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of their bodies and were rushed to a military hospital at Camp Siongco, headquarters of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

They belong to an artillery unit assigned to the headquarters of the Charlie Company of the 40th Infantry Brigade in Barangay Nabalawag in the southwestern part of Midsayap.

The three soldiers, all unarmed, were to fetch drinking water from a spring about 200 meters away from their base when an improvised explosive, fashioned from a live 60-mm mortar and planted along a trail, went off, serious wounding them.

They were supposed to bring the water in containers to a mosque near their base to be used for ablution by Muslim villagers prior to their Friday obligatory noontime “jumaah” prayer.

Police investigators said the improvised bomb was set off using a mobile phone attached to its battery-operated blasting mechanism.

Capt. Tony Bulao, spokesman of the Army’s 603rd Infantry Brigade, which has jurisdiction over military units in Midsayap and nearby North Cotabato towns, said local officials have confirmed that BIFF bandits were responsible for the roadside bombing, the fifth in Midsayap town this month.

BIFF bandits earlier had blasted powerful improvised explosives in one bombing after another in Midsayap’s adjoining barangays of Baliki and Nes, and near a money remittance outlet at the municipal center.  â€“ With Jaime Laude