EXCLUSIVEand Cops foil bombing attempt on Maundy Thursday in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY – Police authorities today foiled a bloody Lenten observance in the city when police presence forced suspected bombers to abandon a fragmentation grenade and an improvised bomb near a government hospital and a convention center here.Supt. Rolen Balquin, Cotabato City police chief, said police mobile chokepoints forced the unidentified bombers to carry out terror attacks at past 12 noon on Maundy Thursday.Civilians alerted the police and soldiers about a hand grenade at a road side along Sinsuat Avenue, Cotabato City, near Al-Nor Hotel and Convention. Responding police bomb experts safely recovered the grenade which Balquin described as UK-72 type.As policemen were searching the vicinity, it found a bag containing an improvised explosive device across the street, specifically beside the concrete fence of the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center, also along Sinsuat Avenue. The IED was fashioned from 60 mm mortar,” Balquin said. The bombers could have been forced to abandon the IED in the area due the presence of police and soldiers nearby.Balquin said a high level alert status had been imposed in the city since March 26 as the city observes the Holy Week.He refused to name what group was behind the bombing attempt. (Ferdinandh Cabrera)