Blast rocks Cotabato City, third in four hours

A third crude bomb explosion shook Mindanao late Wednesday night, this time in Cotabato City, Maguindanao, where two people were reported wounded. Radio DZBB reported that the blast occurred at 10:20 p.m. on Pendatun Street. It quoted Senior Supt. Rolando Dalangin, Philippine National Police Region 12 deputy director for operations, as saying the explosive device was placed in a garbage can. Dalangin said two garbage collectors were about to pick up trash when the bomb exploded. The victims were rushed to hospital, but their conditions were not known. The Cotabato City blast was the third one in four hours to hit the troubled region. At 6 p.m., a crude bomb exploded in front of a lottery outlet on Santiago Street, General Santos City, South Cotabato, killing six people and injuring 20 others. Nearly three hours after the blast, a second improvised bomb went off at a police outpost in Marasigan village on the National Highway in Kidapawan City, Cotabato.-GMANews.TV