RECOVERED BOMBS. Army and police bomb disposal experts secures three improvised bombs attached to an NGCP pylon in Barangay Batulawan, Pikit, North Cotabato on Monday (June 12, 2023). The local police said the bombs bore the signature style of the lawless Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters operating in the area. (Photo courtesy of 6ID)
PIKIT, North Cotabato – Army and police bomb experts foiled an attempt by lawless elements to topple a transmission tower of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in this town, military and police officials said Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Rowel Gavilanes, Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion commander, said the Army and police bomb disposal team safely disarmed at 10:30 a.m. Monday three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) attached to NGCP Tower 39 in Sitio Punol, Barangay Batulawan, Pikit.
Gavilanes said at about 8:30 a.m. a mild explosion had occurred in Sitio Punol. Civilians who heard the blast alerted authorities about it.
“We sent troops to check on the blast and they found three more bombs attached to the NGCP steel tower,” Gavilanes said.
The bombs were rigged from two mortar explosives and a rocket-propelled grenade head duct-taped together to a mobile phone as a trigger mechanism.
Security in the locality has been raised following the bombing attempt.
Lt. Col. John Miridel Calinga, municipal police station chief, the EIDs bore the signature style of the Daesh-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters operating in the area.
“It was not meant to harm civilians but only the NGCP tower,” Calinga said, adding that the site is far from residential areas.
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Alex Rillera, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division commander, has placed all Army units in Central Mindanao on alert to ensure the safety of communities.
Rillera, also the commander of Joint Task Force Central, said the plot could have caused massive power service interruption had it not been averted in parts of North Cotabato, Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte provinces.
The discovery of IEDs here came a day after residents of Barangay Kadigasan, Midsayap town, North Cotabato, also found a homemade bomb fashioned from an 81-mm mortar explosive. Bomb experts safely deactivated the ordnance. (PNA)
