MIDSAYAP, North Cotabato — A powerful homemade bomb went off Friday in a vacant lot beside the provincial road here, police said.
Supt. Gilbert Tuzon, police chief of Midsayap, said nobody was hurt in the 8:15 a.m. explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED) fashioned from an 81 mm mortar, with iron round bars, metal sheets and mobile phone as trigger mechanism.
The Midsayap police said a certain Rasol Dubpaleg, a member of IS-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), allegedly planted the IED.
Police said it was meant for military or police vehicles passing by Sitio Narra, Barangay Tugal, Midsayap, the lone road that connects this town with Datu Piang, Maguindanao, where the BIFF operates.
Police are trying to determine if the bomb-planting was election-related since it was placed on a vacant lot across the Datu Demaudtang Dilangalen Elementary School in Barangay Tugal, one of the voting centers in Monday’s barangay and youth council elections.
“We are still investigating the case,” Tuzon said.
Following the incident, more police checkpoints were positioned along the provincial road, especially in Barangay Tugal, one of the identified election’s areas of immediate concern. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)