3 hurt in IED blast in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Three residents were hurt in an explosion that rocked the city Thursday night. 

Police Col. Rommel Javier, director of the Cotabato City police, said Friday blast victims Yusoph Talusan Kalim, Marguiana Kalim and Azmad Cader were immediately rushed to a hospital for treatment.

They sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of their bodies.

The victims were together whiling away time along a thoroughfare in Barangay Mother Bagua here when an improvised explosive device left on the sidewalk went off, hurting the three of them.

Another IED was found near the blast scene that responding Army and police bomb experts immediately destroyed using an explosive disruptor.

The second explosive was more powerful, fashioned from three mortar projectiles rigged with a detonator that can be set off from a distance using a mobile phone.

The city police and the Army-led Task Force Kutawato are still trying to identify who was behind the bombing that hurt three residents of Barangay Mother Bagua.

Lt. Col. John Paul Baldomar, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said military intelligence agents are helping the city police investigate on the incident.

He said the anti-terror Task Force Kutawato under the control of 6th ID's commander, Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, has intensified its security patrols around the city in support of the security efforts of the local police.

The Cotabato City police deployed more uniformed personnel in strategic spots here to prevent a repeat of Thursday night’s bombing that caused tension among the local communities.