PNP: Suspected bombers killed in Cotabato blast trained by int’l terrorists

PIKIT, North Cotabato —The two suspected bombers who were killed when the explosives they were carrying accidentally went off on Tuesday evening were on a "test mission" after completing a bomb-making training under the long-wanted international terrorists hiding in Maguindanao province, a police official said.
 
Pikit town police chief Senior Inspector Sindatu Mundas Karim said police investigation showed the blast fatalities Asrap Mohamad and Jhomar Palaguyan were "new graduates" under the tutorship of international terrorists Zulikfil Bin Hir (a.ka. Marwan) and Abdul Basit Usman.
 
“We based our investigation and claim on the kind of explosive materials the two would have used in the foiled bombing mission in Pikit town,” Karim told dxND "Radyo Bida" in Kidapawan City early Thursday morning.
 
Citing information from post-blast investigation by bomb experts, Karim said explosive materials used for improvised explosive device (IED) were from a 60mm mortar with mobile phone as triggering device.
 
“This kind of IED is signature of the International terrorists Marwan and Usman,” Karim said.
 
He confirmed the IED found in the blast site was made in an area near the Liguasan Marsh and was transported by the suspects to Pikit.
 
Moreover, he said one of the suspected bombers Asrap Mohammad was a member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter (BIFF) a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The accidental blast in Pikit occurred two days after 44 elite forces from the Philippine National Police were killed in a "misencounter" with members of the MILF and from the BIFF in Mamasapano town last Sunday.

PNP's special police forces were about to serve arrest warrants on Marwan Usman when the bloody clash erupted. — Williamor Magbanua/LBG, GMA News