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BIFF, NPA roadside bomb attempts foiled in Mindanao
[PhilStar] Authorities on Friday foiled attempts by communist insurgents and Islamic State-inspired rebels to set off roadside bombs in Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato provinces.Military spokesman Arvin Encinas said bomb experts were able to promptly deactivate the improvised explosive device found by motorists along a road in the town of Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat. The bomb was packed with metal fragments with jagged edges and rigged with a detonator that could be activated from a distance. It was the second roadside bomb found and defused by Army ordnance troops in the same town in a span of three weeks. Police and army intelligence units in Sultan Kudarat said the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters was behind the foiled bombing plots. About two hours later, passersby found a powerful roadside bomb along a road in Barangay Tomanding in Arakan, North Cotabato, where there is strong New People’s Army presence. Police and military bomb disposal teams safely dismantled the IED. Police spokesman Aldrin Gonzalez said personnel of the Arakan municipal police are certain the bomb was planted by the NPA to retaliate for losses in recent clashes with military units in North Cotabato. He said, "No doubt the NPA was behind that thwarted bombing because the IED found there was identical with those recovered in NPA camps in North Cotabato that were overran by government forces recently." Posted by: ryuge 2018-06-20 |
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