Police probe involvement of jihadist group in bus bombing in Bukidnon

COTABATO CITY – Investigators from the government intelligence community are investigating the involvement ofo a jihadist group operating in SouthernSouthe Philippines in the bombing of a passengerpa bus along Bukidnon on Nov. 6. Injured in the blast were four people.people

A rankingra police intelligence official said on Wednesday they were “verifying” theth connection of an unnamed suspectsuspec in the blast with the Khilafah IslamiyahIslamiy Movement (KIM) based on initial investigations.i

InitialInit investigations showed that on Nov, 6, an improvised explosive device (IED) w went off at the rear portion of an air-conditionedair-con bus of the Rural Transit Mindanao,Minda Inc. (RTMI) while it was along Barangay Dologon, Maramag town in Bukidnon at 12:15 p.m.. The bus was on its way to Cagayan de Oro City.

The blast injured Paquito Devares, 60, DanielDan Sincero, 45, Diolola Fostanes, 36, and Ilyn Mangcao Cuadero, 21. It damaged most of the rear part of the bus, where the bomb was planted.

The victims were among 31 passengers aboard the bus, which was bound from Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat.

Local investigators initially established that a 60-mm mortar shell was used in the blast. They recovered in the crime scene circuit board fragments of a cellular phone believed used as a triggering device, sterile gauzes and a piece of plywood, which were subjected to chemical analysis.

The Nov. 6 blast was believed part of a series of attacks by an armed group demanding a “regular revolutionary fee” from the bus company. The group is allegedly linked with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), initial reports said.

The BIFF has ties with the KIM, also known as Khilafah Islamiyah Mindanao-Black Flag Movement (KIM-BFM), which is linked with other jihadist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf Group ( ASG), Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) and extortion group Al Khobar.

The KIM along with other local jiha- dists had pledged allegiance to the radical Islamic State (IS) that established an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The KIM, which wants an Islamic caliphate or Khilafah Islamiya state in the country, was tagged in the two bombings in Cagayan de Oro City on October 11, 2012 and July 26, 2013 and the August 5, 2013 car bomb in Cotabato City.

The group is believed to be headed by a certain Humam Abdul Najid, who is also identified as a leader of the armed jihadists Ghuraba in Lanao del Sur.

Sheikh Maher Bin Hamad AlMueaqly, the revered imam of Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Grand Mosque, visited Mindanao last Nov. 1 and conducted sermons cum lectures in Marawi City on the “true essence of Islam: as a religion of peace. His visit was believed meant to dissuade young Muslim Filipinos from being influenced by jihadist ideology espoused by the self-proclaimed caliphate leadership of in Iraq and Syria.

Leaders of the jihadist Ghuraba and their clerics in Lanao del Sur forbade their followers in attending the imam’s visit and lectures.