Authorities defuse explosive found in North Cotabato

KIDAPAWAN CITY — Bomb experts from the Army’s Explosives and Ordnance Disposal Team defused a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) recovered along the highway in Kabacan town in North Cotabato, around 7:05 a.m. Wednesday, authorities said. A street sweeper found the IED (made form 81-mm mortar) in front of Saint Luke’s Hospital, around 5 a.m., said Police Chief Inspector Ariel Perez Guevarra, provincial director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Team (CIDT) from North Cotabato. The the discovery took place hours after an explosion Tuesday night also in Kabacan town. Two hours after the IED was found, authorities defused the explosive using water cannon, reports said. According to Guevarra, authorities recovered from the site two 9-volt batteries, a mobile phone, and one IED as secondary device. He said the site where the IED was discovered was just a few meters away from Kakuan Drier where the first bomb exploded, around 8 p.m., Tuesday. No one was reported hurt in the blast. Two weeks ago, a roadside bomb went off after a passenger bus passed a portion of the national highway also in Kabacan, just few meters away from an Army detachment. Authorities have yet to determine the motive behind last Tuesday night’s blast. — Malu Cadeliña Manar /LBG, GMA News