NPA bombing plot foiled in South Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A joint Army-police team killed Wednesday two New People’s Army guerillas carrying four home-made bombs they were to set off somewhere in South Cotabato province.

The slain siblings Jeoffrey and Amen Nilong were killed in an encounter with police personnel and members of the Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion in Barangay Lamsugod in Surallah, South Cotabato on Wednesday morning.

The joint police-Army operation that resulted in the deaths of the duo was launched after local authorities learned of their plot to carry out bomb attacks in South Cotabato.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said the Nilong brothers were tagged in recent bombings and burning of equipment of private firms involved in infrastructure projects in South Cotabato that refused to shell out “protection money” to the NPA.

The team that intercepted and neutralized the Nilongs recovered from their possession four powerful IEDs and materials for roadside bombs and firearms.

“We are grateful to the local communities for providing information pertaining to their bombing plots, enabling us to prevent them from forging ahead with their terror plots,” Uy said.

Local officials and traditional leaders in Surallah said they have learned from tipsters that the Nilongs were to bomb business establishments to intimidate owners for them to pay the NPA protection money.