Task force to probe Cotabato mall bombing

COTABATO CITY – A task force combining police and military agents has been created to investigate the New Year’s Eve bombing that killed two persons and wounded over 30 others at a mall here.

Chief Supt. Eliseo Rasco of the Soccsksargen police hopes the formation of the task force will hasten the identifying of the suspects and the motive behind the planting of improvised explosive devices (IED) at the entrance of the Southseas mall.

A day after the explosion, Malacañang assured the public, especially the victims, that probers will “get to the bottom” of the deadly attack.

The group will be composed of investigators from the Regional Police Office, the city police and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6ID), with the assistance of plainclothes agents from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (ARMM’s) police office, it was learned.

Rasco and Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, 6ID commander, appealed to local communities to refrain from insinuating on Facebook that the bombing was meant to derail the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

"We have to give investigators enough time to identify who were behind that bombing that we condemn strongly," Rasco told reporters Wednesday.

Sobejana said it was possible that a local Islamic State-inspired group could be responsible for the attack.

"Our intelligence units are helping the police look into the incident. We just have to patiently wait for the outcome of the investigation," Sobejana said.

In a statement, presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. urged for sobriety in the aftermath of the blast.

Galvez, a retired Army chief and former commander of both the 6ID and the Western Mindanao Command, said the bombing was an isolated case and must not be associated with the peace process between the government and the MILF.

"Authorities are on top of the situation," said Galvez, who earlier urged local quarters not to drag the debate over the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BOL) into their “political forays.”

The BOL, which will be subjected to a plebiscite this coming January 21, seeks to establish the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to replace the ARMM.