8 hurt as improvised explosive device explodes in Datu Piang, Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY - Eight people were injured after an improvised explosive device went off while the victims were playing volleyball in the town plaza of Datu Piang, Maguindanao on Saturday.

Datu Piang Mayor Victor Samama said the loud explosion occurred past 3 p.m.

The victims were immediately brought to Abpi-Samama Clinic and Hospital.

One victim was later transferred to Cotabato Regional and Medical Center in Cotabato City after he sustained serious shrapnel wounds.

Samama said the volleyball tournament was not coordinated with local authorities and violated quarantine restrictions.

The mayor also expressed concern after learning the group, which had LGBT members, allegedly received a threat prior to the incident.

“We just learned after the incident that this group had received a threat, a warning from radical group who are allergic to gays in public, which they kept secret to us,” Samama said.

Last December 3, 2020, ISIS-inspired group Dawlah Islamiyah launched a night attack in Datu Piang which resulted to an armed encounter between government forces, the army and policemen against  the terror group. The group later managed to penetrate the downtown area near a Catholic church and Catholic school.

The Dawlah Islamiyah group burned a newly issued police car they captured during the siege before they left town.

Samama said that they had heightened the security measures in his town this time.

“I am confident these are the same group behind the attack. We are still investigating,” he said.

A few days ago, two students from Mindanao State University in Marawi City, both members of LGBTQ, were gunned down inside the school where they just enrolled.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack on the students.

Marawi City was once a hotbed of terror group Maute-ISIS which later organized a siege in 2017. The siege triggered a five-month war which devastated the city, killed around 1,200 people and displaced around 200,000 individuals. —KG, GMA News