CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – Police and military authorities foiled on Sunday night an attempt by an IS linked armed group to set off a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) at the vicinity of Datu Odin Sinsuat town hall in Maguindanao.
A motorbike rigged with improvised explosive device was found abandoned at a roadside in front of the town hall and public market. It was discovered by suspicious civilians who alerted the local police.
Bomb experts, using K-9 bomb sniffing dogs, confirmed it was rigged with IED and immediately deactivated it, according to Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares.
Mijares, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said market vendors preparing for Monday’smarket day noticed the motorbike and tipped off the police.
It was found a stone’s throw away from the municipal police office situated beside the national highway across the town’s public market.
It has the trademark of the IS linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and similar to other bombs set off and recovered in the region, Mijares said in a statement.
Mijares believed the IED is to be set off when the sun rises, while vendors begin to open shop and people start to arrive to go about with their chores in the market.
Police lauded the residents for their vigilance.
Police and military forces have been on heightened alert in Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat since the twin bombings in Isulan town that killed five and injured 48 others.
On Friday, three members of the BIFF were killed and two others were injured in a clash with government forces in Datu Montawal also in Maguindanao.
Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, 6th Infantry Division commander, said the Army was responding to reports by civilians about the impending transport of three IEDs to be set off in nearby Kabacan town in North Cotabato when the firefight erupted at 3 p.m.
More checkpoints have been established along major highways across the three provinces since September 2.