1 dead, 11 hurt in Tacurong City bus bombing

COTABATO CITY - A passenger was killed while 11 others were badly hurt in a bomb explosion inside a bus in Tacurong City at noontime Sunday.

Lt. Col. Joan Maganto, chief of the Tacurong City Police, said Sunday the unit of the Yellow Bus Company was on its way to the city terminal, from North Cotabato, when the improvised explosive device went off.

Probers are certain the IED used in the attack was detonated from a distance using a mobile phone.

Local police probers and officials of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division told reporters one of the 12 passengers hurt in the explosion  succumbed to shrapnel wounds. 

Investigators from the Tacurong City police force and the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office are yet to identify the victims.

Senior police and Army intelligence officials are certain either the Dawla Islamiya, or its ally, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, was responsible for the bombing.

Both groups are operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Major Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, said the bombing was perpetrated while personnel of units under 6^th ID are busy with relief operations in areas devastated by Tropical Storm Paeng.

“The bombers took advantage of the situation. We shall do our best to identify, along with the police, the people responsible for this atrocity, a clear act of terror,” Galido said.

Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said their intelligence agents shall help identify the bombers.

The Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF have a reputation for bombing public conveyances and business establishments if owners refuse to shell out “protection money” on monthly basis.

Four were hurt when an IED went off inside a unit of the same bus company in Koronadal City, capital of South Cotabato province, just three months ago.