ARRESTED. Ali Akbar, suspect in bus bombing and burning incidents in North Cotabato, is arrested in Barangay East Patadon, Kidapawan City on Monday morning (June 21, 2021). Police and the military found improvised bombs (inset) near his hideout. (Photo courtesy of 602nd Brigade)
MANILA – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Wednesday lauded police officers who arrested the alleged mastermind behind the Yellow Bus Line attacks in Cotabato last month.
“I commend our Joint Task Force Central and the Kidapawan City Police Station who captured Akbar, a suspected bombing expert of the Dawlah-Islamiya group,” Eleazar said in a statement.
Joint teams of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines arrested Ali Akbar on Monday at Purok 3 in Barangay East Patadon, Kidapawan City
He added that the arrest is a huge blow to Akbar's group as the suspect is believed to be the brains behind the bombings and other attacks conducted in the area.
Eleazar said the PNP will not rest until Akbar's other accomplices are caught.
Akbar was arrested by virtue of arrest warrants for double murder and multiple frustrated murder charges. Seized from him were improvised explosive devices, a blasting cap, several bomb components, and an ISIS flag.
On January 27, an IED exploded at a ticket booth beside an arriving Yellow Bus Line unit in Barangay Sibsib, Tulunan town that killed two people and injured six others.
Last June 3, another unit of the Yellow Bus Line was torched while traveling along the highway in Barangay Bialong in M’Lang town which claimed the lives of three passengers who were trapped inside the burning bus.
Eleazar said police officers in the province and nearby areas will remain on alert for possible retaliatory attacks that may be launched by Akbar’s cohorts. (PNA)
