Michelin Kamasi map of Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao
CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- The military and police have put up more checkpoints along the national highway in Maguindanao following twin improvised bomb attacks by suspected Moro militants that hurt a soldier Monday morning.
Senior Supt. Madzagani Mukaram, Maguindanao police director, said the provincial mobile force company and personnel of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion are now hunting down two men on a motorbike.
Mukaram said witnesses saw the suspects leaving behind two sacks along the highway in Barangay Labu-Labu 2, Datu Hofer, Maguindanao at about 4 a.m.
Maj. Arvin John Encinas, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said two IEDs may have been set off by suspected Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) along the section of the highway.
Citing field reports, Encinas said an IED exploded beside the highway in Barangay Labu-Labu 2, Datu Hofer town at about 6 a.m. Nobody was hurt in the first blast.
Soldiers from the 57th Infantry Battalion proceeded to the blast site to conduct a post-blast investigation when another IED went off in the vicinity, slightly wounding a soldier.
The sacks turned out to contain two IEDs, set off 30 minutes from each other.
Encinas said the wounded infantryman was brought to the Maguindanao Integrated Provincial Hospital for treatment.
The incident also forced police to briefly shut down portions of the highway between Ampatuan, Maguindanao to Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat while a post-blast investigation was going on.
Police and military authorities said the IEDs have the trademark of the BIFF and like other IEDs set off in Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, and North Cotabato in the past.
Only last month, suspected BIFF elements also planted IEDs in the same area that barely missed a military convoy. (PNA)
