10 hurt as roadside bombs go off in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Ten people, two of them journalists, were injured as bandits set off two roadside bombs past 8 a.m. Saturday along a stretch of a highway at the border of Maguindanao’s Datu Saudi and Datu Piang towns.

Investigators from the Datu Saudi municipal police said the roadside bombs were planted by members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) led by Ustadz Karialan, a senior lieutenant of BIFF founder Imam Ameril Ombra Kato.

The injured journalists, Jeff Caparas, a reporter of the Metro Manila-based TV5, and his cameraman, Adrian Bulatao, both sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of their bodies.

Caparas and Bulatao are now undergoing medication at a military hospital in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in the first district of Maguindanao.

Besides Caparas and Bulatao, four soldiers and four innocent civilians were also injured in the bombing.

The first roadside bomb, fashioned from live 81-millimeter mortar projectiles rigged with a blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone, targeted an Army Simba combat vehicle the two journalists and other motorists were trailing by.

The second roadside bomb, planted along the same route just several meters away, went off just as Caparas, Bulatao and other passersby were retreating from the scene.

“That was enough proof of the so uncivilized, primitive fighting style of the BIFF, which is known for targeting innocent, hapless people that can’t fight them squarely,” said Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, who rushed to the Camp Siongco Hospital to check on the condition of Caparas and Bulatao, condemned the roadside bombing, branding the attack inhumane and contrary to International Humanitarian Laws.

The bombing came at the heels of Friday’s liberation from BIFF control of a seven-hectare bandit enclave in Barangay Ganta in Shariff Saidona town in Maguindanao.

The military’s five-day offensive against the BIFF, which waned noontime Friday, left 54 bandits dead and more than 20 others wounded.

A soldier was killed while 13 other enlisted Army personnel were injured in the operations.