At least two dead in explosion at Cotabato shopping mall: police
At least two persons were killed and up to 34 were injured after an improvised bomb exploded at a shopping mall in Cotabato City Monday night.
In a report by the Soccsksargen regional police, the blast occurred at the South Seas Complex along Magallanes Street in Barangay Poblacion V.
One of the fatalities was Jonathan Torribiano. a taff member of Commissioner Melanio Ulama who represents the indigenous people in the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) that drafted the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the commission said in a statement on Tuesday.
"It is really sad that someone who worked for an office that seeks peace in the Bangsamoro would become a victim of senseless violence, " said BTC chairman Ghadzali Jaafar. "In the same vein, we grieve for the others who also died or got wounded by this evil act. Only someone who really oppose peace can perpetuate such a terroristic, immoral and cowardly action.''
Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, citing a preliminary report, said a suspect is the Daullah Islamiya, a group of local and foreign Muslim militants who have links to the Maute Group.
“We are looking here at the Daullah Islamiya as the perpetrators,” Sobejana said.
Military and police bomb experts recovered an hour later another homemade bomb at the baggage counter at the mall’s second floor.
The exploded bomb was defused by the bomb experts.
Chief Superintendent Benigno Durana Jr said the attack "was a cowardly act of violence by local terrorist groups."
Durana said police are "casting a wider net" in their probe on the blast. A special investigative task group has been ordered by PNP Director General Oscar Albyalade to go after the suspects, added Durana. DMS
