Waiting shed blast kills vendor, injures 5 others in NoCot town

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 27, 2021): Waiting shed blast kills vendor, injures 5 others in NoCot town (By Edwin Fernandez)

BLAST SITE. Police officers respond to a blast in the North Cotabato town of Tulunan around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 27, 2021). The explosion killed a sidewalk vendor and injured five other bystanders. (Photos courtesy of former North Cotabato Board Member Socrates Piñol)

An improvised explosive device (IED) went off as a bus was approaching a passenger waiting shed in Tulunan, North Cotabato, at past noon Wednesday, leaving one dead and five others injured.

Police identified the fatality as 53-year-old Gina Paunon. Those injured were Ryan Panibayo, 28; Rodel Secur, 24; Kent Lloyd Sendero, 19; Eduard Odango; and Ritchie Pedroso, 32. They are all local residents.

Maj. Jun Napat, Tulunan town police chief, said the blast occurred at around 12:30 p.m. as a Yellow Bus Lines unit was about to make a stop at a waiting shed where the IED was believed to have been planted.

Napat said the victims were rushed to the Sorilla Medical Hospital some 50 meters away from the blast site. He said Paunon, a sidewalk vendor, died while undergoing treatment.

He clarified that the explosion was not inside the bus but at the roadside and was set off as the bus was about to park.

“All the bus passengers and the bus conductor are safe,” Napat said, quoting the bus driver whose name was not immediately known.

The YBL bus (body number 2988) had shrapnel marks on its side, and its front and rear tires were deflated.

The bus firm had been receiving extortion demand from unidentified men who threatened to set off bombs if their demands are ignored.

North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco immediately condemned the attack and called on police to conduct a manhunt against the perpetrators.

“This is a clear travesty of our laws and it is inhuman,” Catamco said. “We see this as another challenge to our efforts to maintain peace in our area."

Catamco implored North Cotabato residents to remain vigilant and support the security forces, even as she vowed to provide help to the victims.

In a statement, Vice Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza also called on authorities "to speed up their investigation to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice."

"I would like to offer prayers and express sympathy to the family of the victims and wish speedy recovery for the wounded of the bomb explosion...This act of cowardice of some lawless elements is an act of terrorism, which I resolutely condemn," Mendoza added.

The Tulunan blast came two days after a powerful IED also went off in South Upi, Maguindanao which killed a motorist and injured another.

A second bomb rigged from a 105-howitzer explosive was defused by bomb experts on the same day.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1128701