Soldier hurt as twin blasts rock Sulu anew
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A soldier was injured in separate explosions involving anti-personnel mines perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits in the hinterlands of Sulu, a military official said Tuesday.
Maj. Arvin John Encinas, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) spokesperson, disclosed the first blast took place around 7:34 a.m. Tuesday in Sitio Tibongbong, Barangay Igasan, Patikul, Sulu.
Encinas said there was no casualty in the first explosion that occurred approximately 30 meters away from the troops who were providing security to the teachers traveling to the Taglibi Elementary School.
The second explosion that injured a soldier occurred around 8:30 a.m. just 10 meters away from the site of the first incident.
He identified the soldier, who sustained shrapnel wounds, as Cpl. Rene Mediana, a member of the K9 platoon of the Army’s 43rd Infantry Battalion.
He said Mediana, together with the troops of the Army’s 13th Special Forces Company, were conducting clearing operations when the second improvised bomb exploded.
Mediana was taken to the military hospital in Jolo, Sulu.