PARANG, Maguindanao, Philippines — Four persons including a minor were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in a bus in this town yesterday morning.
Expedito Bucay, 45; Feycel Culanag, 40; Benjamin Wahab, 32, and John Paul Capuo, 17, were rushed to a nearby hospital by responding police personnel and local rescue workers.
Probers have yet to determine the type of explosive used in the attack that occurred in Barangay Making.
The bomb was placed under a seat of the bus owned and operated by the Rural Tours Bus Co., according to Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Maguindanao police director.
The IED went off as the bus was traveling along the Cotabato-Pagadian Highway.
Probers expressed belief the IED could have been detonated from a distance with the use of a mobile phone.
Local leaders and Army intelligence officers are eyeing extortion as the motive for the attack.