COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 18 April) — Motorcycle-riding gunmen attempted to bomb a police outpost, a moving Army truck and a battalion headquarters all within an hour Saturday night here and in neighboring Datu Odin Sinsuat town but missed their targets.
Only one person was reported injured.
At around 7:05 p.m. Saturday, motorcycled-riding gunmen lobbed agrenade near a police outpost along the national highway in Brgy. Tamontaka 2, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao but no one was injured.
Police reports said the motorcycle-riding suspects lobbed the grenade while approaching the police station.
At 7:50 p.m., two motorcycle-riding men intentionally overtook a KM truck of the Army’s Special Forces that was conducting security patrol along Sinsuat Avenue in Cotabato Ciy, and attempted to lob a grenade but it failed to enter the driver’s open window.
The truck driver from the Army’s 5th Special Forces said they were lucky the suspects missed their target.
A few seconds later, they heard a loud explosion.
“Immediately we saw they sped off. We chased the suspects riding a motorcycle but unfortunately we were blocked by a white car in a busy corner, allowing the suspects to escape,” the driver said.
The soldiers said they could not fire at the suspects because there were many civilians around.
EOD team conducting post blast investigation at the explosion site along Sinsuat Avenue in Cotabato City Saturday night, April 18, 2015. One was injured by shrapnels. MindaNews photo by Ferdinandh Cabrera
The explosion, near a famous restaurant, left one person injured as shrapnels shattered windows.
He was immediately rushed to a local hospital.
At around the same time as the attempt to bomb the truck was happening, motorcycle-riding suspects lobbed an improvised explosive device (IED) at the main headquarters of the 5th Special Forces Battalion but the bomb did not explode.
Police and Army elements are still conducting hot pursuit operation and tightening checkpoint security. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera / MindaNews)
