Cotabato City cops foil bombing plot

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Policemen on Thursday promptly  deactivated an improvised explosive device found along a busy thoroughfare near a government hospital in south of the city.

A grenade was also found several meters away from the IED.

Senior Superintendent Rolen Balquin, director of the Cotabato City police, said they first received a tip from an informant about the presence of a fragmentation grenade near the gate of the Cotabato Regional Medical Center.

Responding bomb disposal men found the grenade and afterward saw a bag several meters away.

The bag contained a home-made bomb fashioned from a 60-millimeter mortar rigged with a timing device that can be detonated from a distance.

Balquin said they are still investigating on who could have left the IED and the fragmentation grenade policemen had disposed of.