AT least seven people were injured after an explosion ripped through a passenger bus while it was traveling along a highway in North Cotabato on Tuesday, the military said.
Four of the victims in the blast are minors and one of them is in critical condition, according to Lt. Col. John Paul Baldomar, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
The explosion occurred two days after the country entered its official election period for the May polls national and local polls. Checkpoints manned by soldiers and policemen have been put up around the country to enforce the gun ban and check the movement of criminals and lawless people.
As of Monday evening, the Philippine National Police reported through its spokesman Col. Roderick Augustus Balba that 11 people have been arrested in checkpoints for violating the election gun ban and 11 firearms were also seized.
Baldomar said the Mindanao Star bus with body number 15511 was hit by the explosion between 8:15 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. while it was traveling along the national nigh way in Aleosan, North Cotabato. “The loud explosion was heard at the back of the bus,” he said. The bus came from Davao and was on its way to Cotabato City.
Those injured were identified as Benjamin Solaiman, 5, who is in critical condition; Haron Solaiman, 24; Masid Piang, 25; Yushira Solaiman, 3; Rodolfo Castillo, 67; Lester Bautista Alcare, 17; and five-month-old Haira Solaiman.
Baldomar said post-blast investigators are trying to determine what caused or triggered the explosion— whether it was a grenade or a homemade bomb.
He could not also say whether the incident was an attack or an accident and stopped from naming any particular group pending the results of the ongoing investigation.