MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Soldiers promptly defused Wednesday a powerful roadside bomb militants planted along a highway near the town proper of Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
The improvised explosive device, packed with metal fragments with jagged edges, was rigged with a blasting contraption attached to a mobile phone.
Personnel of the 2nd Mechanized Battalion and the 32nd Ordnance Disposal Team, both operating under the control of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, immediately deactivated the IED, placed inside a bag that motorists found along one side of the highway.
Major Gen. Cirilito Sobejana of the 6th ID said Thursday they are certain the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters was behind the botched roadside bombing.
The group, operating in the fashion of the Islamic State, is blamed for all the bombings in central Mindanao since it emerged in late 2010.
The BIFF, which uses the flag of the Islamic State as revolutionary banner, has also been trying to sabotage the peace process between Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.