NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Three patrolling policemen were hurt in another roadside bombing by communist rebels in Magpet town Tuesday morning, the military said.
Captain Manuel Gatus, civil-military relations chief of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion, confirmed the incident, but declined to identify the wounded policemen pending notification of their families.
The victims were their way to Barangay Natutungan in west of Magpet to verify reported sightings of New People’s Army guerillas when the rebels set off the explosive, planted along the road, as their vehicle passed by.
Responding soldiers and policemen rushed the victims to a hospital.
“They are now undergoing medication. They are out of danger,” Gatus said.
Gatus said the improvised explosive device used in the attack was rigged with a battery operated blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone.
The New People's Army perpetrated more than a dozen roadside bombings in Magpet and nearby Arakan and Antipas towns in the past 10 months.