Government forces are convinced that the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters was behind the bomb attack. Philstar.com/File photo
Bandits detonated on Monday night a bomb near the municipal hall of Talayan town just two hours before experts defused an explosive found beside a security checkpoint in Cotabato City.
Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, director of the Maguindanao provincial police, said no one was hurt in the bombing in Talayan but the incident triggered panic among residents.
Officials of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division are convinced the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) was behind the attack.
The group, which boasts of loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is known for bombing non-military targets to avenge losses in encounters with pursuing state security forces.
The BIFF, feared for its enforcement of a ruthless Taliban-style justice system in areas where it operates, lost more than 20 members during a three-day Army operation early this month in nearby Salibo municipality in Maguindanao.
The bombing near the Talayan municipal center preceded the deactivation at about 8:00 p.m. Monday by bomb experts of an improvised explosive device (IED) found near a joint Army-police security checkpoint in Tamontaka District in Cotabato City.
The city police said it was for the vigilance of villagers and barangay officials that the bomb was found and immediately dismantled by responding police and Army bomb experts.
The IED was fashioned from an explosive blasting powder packed with twisted nails and rigged with a battery-operated detonator that can be set off from a distance using a mobile phone.
City residents have been experiencing a conspicuously fragile peace since last year owing to the iron-fisted policy of Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi in maintaining law and order in all of the 37 barangays under her jurisdiction.
The mayor’s office and the city police had arrested dozens of drug offenders in recent months and had cleared the city’s thoroughfares from hostile people through periodic nighttime joint law enforcement patrols.
http://www.philstar.com/nation/2017/03/28/1685435/biff-blamed-bombing-maguindanao
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.