CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — At least four persons were hurt in separate explosions that occurred Monday night in Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces.
Capt. Aldrin Encinas, head of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6ID) public affairs office, said a balut vendor was hurt when an improvised bomb went off around 6:40 p.m. along the vicinity of the rotunda leading to the 6ID camp in Barangay Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
He said the vendor, identified as Dairy Joy Arayo, 22, was tending to her goods not far from a carnival with his friend, Joel Samar, when a loud explosion occurred.
Arayo was hit by shrapnel in the body and was rushed to an infirmary inside the 6ID compound.
“The blast site is about 50 meters away from the first sentry of the military camp that also houses the Cotabato airport,” Encinas said.
He said the bombing could be the handiwork of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that have suffered heavy losses in ongoing Army offensives in Maguindanao.
In Pikit, North Cotabato, three men in a drinking spree were hurt when two men aboard a motorbike tossed a hand grenade at 7 p.m. Monday in Barangay Kolambog.
Supt. Bernard Tayong, speaking for the North Cotabato police office, identified the injured victims as Jerry Cordova, 44, Leonardo Baclayon, 56 and Ariel Abrenica, 36, all farmers and residents of Barangay Kolambog.
Tayong said village officials rushed the victims to a district hospital in nearby Aleosan town in North Cotabato.
Police probers found shrapnel and fragmentation grenade components at the site of the blast. Tayong said personal grudge is initially being eyed at the Pikit incident. (Noel Punzalan and Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
