Foiled roadside bombing attempt by alleged saboteurs in Maguindanao  

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – Additional military-police checkpoints have been rapidly set up in Datu Blah Sinsuat (DAS) province, after a foiled roadside bombing attempt by alleged saboteurs in the area last night.

CLEARING OPERATION. Police and soldiers secure a portion of the highway in Barangay Pura, Datu Blah Sinsuat, Maguindanao, where three hand grenades were found on Tuesday (Aug. 24, 2021) afternoon. Additional military-police checkpoints were set up in the municipality following the foiled bombing attempt. (Photo courtesy of Datu Blah Sinsuat LGU)

Alert soldiers and bomb experts of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division safely deactivated three hand grenades planted beside the highway in the coastal town, its spokesperson Lt. Col. John Paul Baldomar said Wednesday.

“Fortunately, nobody was hurt in the attempt,” Baldomar said.

In a separate interview, DAS Mayor Marshall Sinsuat said three fragmentation grenades were found beside the national highway in Barangay Pura at past 2 p.m.

“The police and military are still determining who could be behind the foiled grenade attack,” he said, adding that alert civilians tipped off the police and military about the explosives.

Following the incident, Sinsuat appealed to the residents to remain vigilant in helping authorities’ thwart attempts to disrupt peace.

“We have a peaceful town, please help us maintain this," he said.

Sinsuat said it remained unclear as to who is being targeted by the bombing attempt, and the brains behind it.

Lt. Pasigan Abas, DAS police chief, said investigation on the incident is ongoing. (PNA)

Who are these terrorists?

Since January 2000 radical Islamist groups and Islamist separatist forces in the Philippines have carried out many 40 major bombings against civilians and civilian property, mostly in the southern regions of the country around Mindanao, Basilan, Jolo and other nearby islands.

The predominantly Muslim ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines are the Iranun, Jama Mapun, Kalagan, Kalibugan, Maguindanao, Maranaw, Molbog, Sama (including the Badjao, Balanguingui, and various Tawi-Tawi Sama groups), Sangil, Tausūg, and Yakan.