Villagers nearly hit by roadside bombs in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Vigilant Moro villagers on Tuesday saved passersby from harm two powerful roadside bombs can inflict, planted along a busy thoroughfare in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao.

Army and police officials said the two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) went off just after responding policemen and soldiers managed to close the highway to traffic and relocate villagers to safer areas.

Local officials said it was a peasant named Lawani Odin and his companions who first discovered the roadside bombs at one side of a highway straddling through Barangay Timbangan in Shariff Aguak.

Odin immediately reported the presence of the IEDs along the highway to barangay officials, enabling authorities to cordon the area and prevent vehicles from crossing through.

The IEDs went off one after another just after policemen and soldiers had cleared the surroundings from passersby and onlookers.

Captain Joann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said there is possibility that the IEDs were rigged with blasting mechanisms attached to mobile phones that can be activated from a distance.