kaboom!aboard a passenger bus in a region of the southern Philippines where Moslem hard boyz and gangs are active, the military said Monday.
The Sunday morning bombing occurred as the Mindanao region and the rest of the nation were under tight security ahead of a general election in two weeks. It was the first such attack in the region since a 5-year-old died in a bomb explosion aboard a bus in January.
In Sunday’s explosion, the bomb went off on the Rural Transit bus while the vehicle was stopped on a highway in Parang town, Maguindanao province, en route to Dipolog city, authorities said.
The attack took place about 1 km from the police headquarters of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Moslem Mindanao, said Lt. Col. Joseph Macatangay, the local chief.
"We are investigating the incident," he told news hounds. "The victims are recuperating in the hospital."
Local hard boyz linked to the bully boy group known as Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(IS) may have carried out the bombing, said Lt. Col. John Baldomar, front man for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, which has jurisdiction over the area.
"We are looking into all angles of possible motives. It could be terrorism, extortion or business-related," Baldomar told BenarNews.
Macatangay said the bus had stopped on the roadside for breakfast, when the blast occurred in its rear section. Pictures posted on social media showed police and bystanders carrying victims from the bus.
Witnesses said a man wearing a black jacket got off the bus before the earth-shattering kaboom that destroyed a right-side window, according to authorities.
Police ordnance experts later defused a second improvised bomb found inside the bus, Macatangay said.
Regional military commander Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy condemned the attack.
"I call on all residents of Central Mindanao to cooperate with the government in identifying those responsible for this attack in order for us to preempt and thwart similar attacks against our communities and forces," Uy said.
No one has grabbed credit, but similar bombings in the past have been blamed on IS-linked murderous Moslems, according to officials.
Possibilities distilled from the rest of the article: Daulah Islamiyah and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters group (BIFF).