6 hurt in bus blast in North Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — Six were hurt, among them two children and an infant, in an explosion inside a bus along the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Aleosan on Tuesday morning.

Masid Benjamin, 25, Rodolfo Castillo, 67, Haron Solaiman, 24, and the three children sustained shrapnel wounds from the blast. 

They were immediately rushed by a responding police team and personnel of the Aleosan Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office to different hospitals for treatment.

In an initial statement, the Aleosan police said the driver of the Mindanao Star Bus was maneuvering through a stretch of the highway in Purok Narra in Barangay San Mateo when a blast ripped through the rear part of the vehicle. The blast also broke the windows of the bus.

Police suspect that the bomb was rigged underneath one of the seats in the bus, possibly while on a stopover in one of the terminals along its route. 

From 2021

Al-Khobar terror group believed behind North Cotabato bus burning

‘Mastermind’ in North Cotabato bus attacks nabbed