7 hurt in North Cotabato bombing blamed on BIFF

NORTH COTABATO —  Seven were hurt in a roadside bombing in Aleosan town Wednesday night in another attack blamed on the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

The victims — Amerol Musa Tantos, Hanep Alipa Ayon, Yahya Kasan, Pahmi Daya Diamla, Johary Amerol, Salman Tahir and truck driver Jamal Pacalna — were immediately rushed to a hospital by responding barangay officials and policemen.

Local police probers said two improvised explosive devices were used in the bombing, rigged with a battery-operated blasting device that can be detonated from a distance.

The IEDs, planted along a stretch of the Davao-Cotabato Highway in Barangay Pagangan in Aleosan town in the first district of North Cotabato, went off while an Isuzu hauler truck was passing by.

The five victims, besides Pacalna, were hitchhikers riding on the rear bed of the truck. They sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of their bodies.

Pacalna was hit with shrapnel in the neck and shoulders. His helper, Tantos, was wounded in the leg.

Senior Inspector Edwin Abantes, Aleosan police chief,  said probers are yet to determine the exact identities of the bombers.

Local officials told reporters they have been receiving persistent feedback from constituents who claimed that the outlawed BIFF was behind it.

The BIFF, which is using the black flag of the Independent State of Iraq and Syria as its revolutionary banner, is blamed for all recent bombings in Aleosan and other towns in North Cotabato.

The roadside bombing in Barangay Pagangan past 9 p.m. Wednesday was preceded by the grenade attack near the Santo Niño church in Midsayap on Saturday night.

A traditional Christmas nativity mass was being held in the church when a bomber hurled a fragmentation grenade at a police patrol truck parked nearby.

The suspect hurriedly left the scene riding a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.