FOILED. Military and police authorities seal off a section of the highway near the welcome rotunda in Tacurong City on Tuesday (July 24, 2018) following the discovery of a homemade bomb planted by suspected members of the Islamic State-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the area. (Photo courtesy of 6ID)
CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – Police and military personnel, acting on a tip from an informant, foiled a bombing attempt in Tacurong City blamed on the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) Tuesday afternoon.
Capt. Arvin John Encinas, speaking for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6ID), said the powerful improvised explosive device was found by motorists at a roadside near Gen. Lim St., about 100 meters away from the Tacurong City welcome rotunda.
Encinas, citing an intelligence report, said a civilian alerted the police and Task Force Talakudong, a military-led security unit, about the impending bombing sortie by BIFF bomb-makers Brah Lumambas and Bohari Adam, both under BIFF leader Gani Saligan, to avenge losses in the recent military operations in Maguindanao.
Bomb experts deactivated the explosive device placed in a sling bag and left at a roadside, where civilian and motorists regularly passed by. The bomb was fashioned from black powder and a still unidentified explosive mechanism with cut nails and metals as shrapnel.
“This is the second attempt of the BIFF terror group to create chaos in Tacurong City but was successfully preempted through the help of our concerned civilians in the community,” said 1st Infantry Mechanized Brigade commander Col. Robert Dauz, whose unit has jurisdiction in Tacurong and nearby areas.
Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, 6ID commander, said the attempt was meant to maim and kill innocent civilians.
“The bombing attempt was clearly meant to create atrocities and terror attack in the peace-loving and progressive city of Tacurong,” Sobejana said.
Recent air and ground assaults by the 6ID left at least 40 BIFF gunmen dead and two bomb makers were arrested in the marshland of Maguindanao and part of Sultan Kudarat provinces. A bomb-making facility of the BIFF was also destroyed.
Sobejana and Dauz have urged the public to be on alert and vigilant at all times and to immediately report anything suspicious to the authorities. (PNA)
