Army foils Maguindanao road side bombing attempt

DATU UNSAY, Maguindanao --- Army bomb experts on Tuesday detonated a powerful roadside bomb bandits planted along a national highway straddling through Maguindanao’s Datu Unsay town.The incident stranded hundreds of commuters and motorists who were to pass through the route, which responding soldiers and policemen closed to traffic for two hours as ordnance operatives disposed off the improvised explosive device (IED).The IED was strapped on a protective steel road railing at one side of the highway in Barangay Iganagampong, located near the municipal center of Datu Unsay.Policemen at the scene reporters the IED was first noticed by vigilant passersby, who immediately reported its presence along the highway to soldiers in a nearby roadside Army detachment.Bomb experts destroyed the bomb using a calibrated ordnance disruption explosive fashioned from blasting chemicals attached to a detonator.Captain Jo-ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division, said there were indications that the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) was behind the foiled roadside bombing.The BIFF has perpetrated more than 20 roadside bombings in Maguindanao in the past five weeks to avenge the deaths of more than 30 bandits killed by soldiers in one encounter after another in the province since late January.The BIFF, which has claimed allegiance to the Independent State of Iraq and Syria, is known for its wanton disregard of the safety of civilians when embarking on guerrilla attacks against military targets.A treasurer of the local government in Datu Salibo town, also in Maguindanao, and four other civilians were killed in one of the BIFF’s recent roadside bombings in the municipality, scene of recent bloody clashes between government forces and members of the outlawed group.