DAVAO CITY A bomb exploded shortly before lunch on Wednesday inside a passenger bus in Digos City, south of this city, injuring 17 people, authorities said.
The bombing of the Weena airconditioned bus, which occurred at that citys bus terminal, was the second this month for the company, which had been targeted in past bombings. The bus was carrying passengers from Cotabato City to Davao City.
As of 3 p.m., the Digos police have not released any details or statements on the bombings, which came two days after the bombing of a Church-ran cooperative store in Jolo, Sulu.
“We are investigating if the NPA (New Peoples Army) is behind this since it’s their anniversary,” Reggiette Tecson, a provincial police officer, told Reuters.
Rosalyn Candia, an operations staff of Weena, told davaotoday.com that the victims suffered minor injuries and had been brought to a hospital in Digos City.
She said the bus company had strict security procedures in the terminals but, according to her, the bomb may have been brought on the bus by passengers who came on board in between terminals.
Candia said military personnel had also been deployed to the terminals in Cotabato and Digos cities. Members of the militarys Task Force Davao man the terminal in Davao City.
On March 8, a Weena bus was bombed at the Cotabato City terminal, Candia said. She said there were no injuries reported in this incident. Weena, one of the largest bus companies in Southern Mindanao, operates more than 100 buses plying the Davao-Cotabato via Digos route. (Cheryll D. Fiel/davaotoday.com)
Terrorism
