Update: Police tag BIFF as responsible for Bukidnon bus bombing

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 10): Update: Police tag BIFF as responsible for Bukidnon bus bombing

The regional police here has tagged the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) as responsible for the Tuesday bombing of a passenger bus in Bukidnon.

Police Supt. Bernardo Mendoza, the spokesperson of the police regional command based in Camp Alagar here, said that police investigators in Bukidnon are 80 percent certain that the bombing was the handiwork of the BIFF.

He said that the PNP regional command received an initial report that nine people died on the spot, some of them students of the Central Mindanao University (CMU), in Maramag, Bukidnon. The number climbed to 11, however, in subsequent reports as two of the wounded victims died later in the hospital.

Mendoza said that the passenger bus owned by the Rural Transit Mindanao, Inc. (RTMI) left Wao, a municipal town in Lanao Del Sur, about 3:00 p.m. Tuesday en route to Cagayan De Oro City.

He said the bus made a stop over to pick up eight passengers in front of the CMU, a state-owned university that specializes in agriculture, forestry, and animal science studies.

“The bomb, an improvised explosive device (IED), exploded inside the bus about 100 meters from the CMU gate,” Mendoza said.

He said that police have tagged the BIFF responsible for the bombing since the IED was similar to the one that exploded inside the RTMI passenger bus a month ago on November 6 in San Fernando, Bukidnon.

“No one was killed in the Nov. 6 explosion, but four passengers were treated for minor shrapnel wounds since the bomb exploded at the back of the bus,” Mendoza said.

He said that the motive for the bombing was extortion since the bus company did not give in to the BIFF demand about two years ago.

According to Mendoza, the PNP has already filed charges against Amir Umra-Kato, the leader of the BIFF, and his followers in connection with the Nov. 6 bombing of the RTMI bus company.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=714705