COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 11, 2008) – A bomb exploded on Thursday ahead of President Gloria Arroyo’s visit in the restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said the bomb, assembled from an 81mm mortar, exploded near a market in the village called Tenorio in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao, one of six provinces under the autonomous region.
Two more improvised explosives were recovered from the area, according to Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a regional army spokesman.
The explosion also coincided with the arrival of Radhika Coomaraswamy, United Nations Special Representative to the Secretary General on the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict.
The bomb exploded 30 minutes after Coomaraswamy’s convoy passed the village.
“We still do not know where behind the explosion, but police and military have already taken steps to prevent a similar incident; we have stepped security in the area,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Coomaraswamy is in the Philippines to monitor the situation of children associated with armed forces or armed groups according to the Paris Principles, a set of guidelines on children associated with armed conflict.
President Arroyo is scheduled to visit the nearby town of Sultan Kudarat where she would meet with farmers, Ando said. It was unknown if the blast had anything to do with the President’s visit.
On Tuesday, Moro rebels killed one government soldier and wounded eight more in fierce fighting in Maguindanao. The fighting broke out after troops, who were sent to the village to check on the presence of gunmen, were attacked by Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels.
Skirmishes erupted in Mindanao after the failed signing of the Muslim territorial deal between the MILF and the government peace panels in August. Rebels launched a wave of deadly attacks in Mindanao since then. (Mindanao Examiner)
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