MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Militants detonated two bombs along a stretch of the Cotabato-Isulan Highway in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao on Friday morning.
No one was hurt in the explosions but the bombings triggered panic among villagers.
Responding Army bomb disposal experts said the improvised explosive devices were fashioned from 81 millimeter projectiles rigged with blasting contraptions attached to a mobile phone.
Authorities closed the stretch of the highway rocked by explosions for two hours to enable Army ordnance teams to search for possible secondary IEDs planted nearby.
Flow of traffic on the route was restored only after searchers found no other IED along roadsides at least a kilometer away towards opposite directions from the spot where the bombs went off.
Officials of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division are certain the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters was responsible for the IED attack.