Al-Khobar terror group believed behind North Cotabato bus burning
NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — The Al-Khobar terror group may have been responsible for last week's burning of a bus in M'lang town that caused the deaths of three passengers and hurt six others, officials said, citing informants' reports.
Police Col. Henry Villar, North Cotabato provincial police director, said Monday they are now validating persistent reports from residents of M'lang and in nearby towns that Al-Khobar was responsible for the arson attack.
The group was tagged in the bombing of a unit of the Yellow Bus Line in Tulunan, North Cotabato last January that left a passenger dead and injured five others.
Three men barged into the Yellow Bus unit last week after its driver pulled over along a highway in Barangay Bialong in M'lang to pick up their ticket inspector waiting by.
The suspects poured gasoline on the floor of the bus that they lit with disposable lighters before jumping out through its half-open hydraulic door.
Three passengers, Johnny Roy Tadeo Ramil, 28, Hazel Mallo Galardo, 30, and the 48-year-old Arnold Patron, were burned alive inside the bus.
Al-Khobar, a sub-group in the Dawlah Islamiya, which uses the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as banner, has a reputation for bombing establishments and public transportations if owners refuse to shell out "protection money" every month.
Officers of different units in Maguindanao of the Army's 6th Infantry Division told reporters there are strong indications that the Al-Khobar was behind the arson attack.
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