Three days before Christmas Day, a series of explosions rocked Cotabato City and the provinces of Cotabato and Maguindanao on Sunday night which resulted in the wounding of at least 23 individuals.
Major Arvin Encinas, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom), said the first explosion occurred at the corner of Sinsuat Avenue and Quezon Avenue in Cotabato City, near a bank and the cathedral at around 6 p.m.
Encinas said elements of the Philippine Army’s Fifth Special Forces Battalion were patrolling in the area aboard a military truck when three unidentified suspects lobbed a grenade at them.
The troops engaged the suspects in a brief firefight but the attackers managed to escape onboard a motorcycle. Encinas described the suspects as teenagers.
In an update, Encinas said 15 persons, including nine soldiers were hurt in the attack.
The WestMinCom said they were eyeing the Dawlah Islamiyah (DI) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) as the possible suspects in the incident.
Then at around 6:30 p.m., a suspected improvised explosive (IED) device suddenly exploded at Pedro Colina (PC) Hill, Barangay Rosary Heights 1 also in Cotabato City, about 3.6 kilometers from the site of the first grenade attack.
A civilian who was just passing by the area was reportedly wounded in the incident while authorities said the suspects were also riding on a motorcycle.
The military has yet to establish whether the two explosions were connected.
Two explosions also occured at Barangay Poblacion in Libungan, North Cotabato between 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. where at least six civilians got hurt.
The last explosion was reported at a site of a trade fair in Sitio Tekwa National Highway in North Upi, Maguindanao around 9 p.m. where a civilian was wounded.
The military was coordinating with the police in investigating the series of explosions, which happened more than a week before the martial law in the entire Mindanao island is lifted.
Two years since its implementation, the martial law will be lifted in Mindanao island on December 31.
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