Tacurong security tight after car bomb attack

The military has intensified security operations in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat following Monday’s car bomb attack that left two people dead and was believed to be targeting Maguindanao Governor Esmael “Toto" Mangudadatu. “Checkpoints are being intensified," said Maj. Gen. Rey Ardo, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division. “Our security forces are in place." Mangudadatu survived the attack unscathed, but provincial board member Datu Rusman Sinsuat Sr. was killed. The other fatality was bystander Rocky Parenas. Six people were hurt in the attack, most of them part of Mangudadatu's convoy. Mangudadatu gained national prominence in November 2009 after his wife and two sisters, along with 54 others, were killed in a massacre blamed on their rival clan, the Ampatuans. Some members of the Ampatuan family, including its patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., are currently detained for the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre. In Manila, Armed Forces spokesman Commodore Miguel Jose Rodriguez said the additional checkpoints aim to monitor the possession of firearms and other weapons in the area. “The greater effort is on the intelligence personnel of the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] and [Philippine National Police] towards developing the leads that we have," he said. Rodriguez said statements that the attack was politically-motivated are mere speculations, noting that investigators have yet to establish anything concrete about that. “We want to really see the result of the investigation. We don’t want to preempt the results of what they (investigators) are doing now. We are open to all angles but we have yet to establish that it’s politically-motivated," he said. — KBK, GMA News