by Noel Punzalan/PNA
COTABATO CITY — Police on Saturday shut down a stretch of a highway in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao to give bomb disposal experts time to disarm an improvised bomb earlier found by civilians in an abandoned hut.
Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the bomb, rigged from an 81-mm mortar explosive and encased in a jetmatic hand pump metal body, was discovered by alert civilians near the highway in Sitio Daiwan, Barangay Tanuel around 6:00 p.m.
“The civilians immediately informed militiamen roving the area, who in turn, reported the matter to authorities,” he said.
Police personnel were quick to shut down the section of the highway as members of the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit worked on disarming the bomb.
Hundreds of motorists stranded from both sides of the highway waited patiently as authorities gave the go-signal for the resumption of traffic around 8:30 p.m.
Mijares said the bomb bore the signature style of the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters operating in the area.
