From the Manila Times (Mar 10, 2022): Cotabato on heightened alert (By Franz R. Sumangil)
POLICE authorities in Cotabato City tightened security to protect commuters from terrorists and bombings.The heightened safety measures were adopted after authorities foiled a bombing attempt at a bus terminal in Kidapawan City, and the explosion that took place inside a passenger bus parked in Cotabato City last week.
LtCol. Peter Pinalgan, Kidapawan police director, on Tuesday said that a box found unclaimed for three days inside the city integrated public terminal that bomb experts intentionally set off was an improvised explosive device (IED).
According to Pinalgan, the improvised bomb was mixed with dried fish to confuse bomb-sniffing dogs.
"The scent of dried fish covered the smell of explosive powder that K-9 dogs are trained to identify," Pinalgan said.
Kidapawan Philippine National Police (PNP) bomb experts defused the IED in a secured area.
Pinalgan also urged the public to be vigilant and to immediately report suspicious boxes, bags and containers left unattended in public places.
He added that the Kidapawan PNP is reviewing security measures to determine how the IED was sneaked into the terminal compound.
In Cotabato City, a bomb was set off inside a Mindanao Star Bus while parked inside the bus terminal last week.
The bus had just arrived from Davao City and all the passengers have disembarked when the bomb, a cellphone-triggered explosive device, went off.
Police believed the bomb was meant to scare the bus firm. Authorities have yet to know if the bus company has received any cash demand from armed groups.
The extremist Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters has been blamed for the series of bombings in Central Mindanao last year.
Authorities said extortion could be the motive behind the bombings of several buses plying major routes in Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato last year.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/03/10/news/regions/cotabato-on-heightened-alert/1835721
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