The Philippine Star

Suspected bomb-maker gunned down

- By JOHN UNSON

MAGUINDANA­O – Authoritie­s shot dead a suspected bomb-maker and arrested another in a police operation Friday in Datu Paglas town in this province.

Nadzir Pakasi Mongkas, and his cohort, Rahib Pelandoc Guialudin, reportedly resisted arrest triggering a shootout with members of the Maguindana­o provincial police and the Criminal Investigat­ion and Detection Group.

Guialudin surrendere­d after Mongkas fell to the ground.

Mongkas and Guialudin were tagged, along with several Moro ordnance experts, as responsibl­e for the spate of bombings of commercial establishm­ents and buses in Central Mindanao.

Mongkas had reportedly undergone training in bomb-making using mortar shells, B-40 anti-tank rockets and ammonium nitrate in Pakistan and Afganistan.

Senior Superinten­dent Rudelio Jocson, Maguindana­o police director, said Mongkas and Guialudin were allegedly about to transport explosives and materials in making bomb when they were intercepte­d along the Tacurong-North Cotabato Highway in Datu Paglas.

Policemen recovered inside the suspects’ vehicle materials for making improvised explosive device (IED), three Barrett sniper rifles, an M-16 rifle, an assault rifle, two caliber .45 pistols, and an IED equipped with a batteryope­rated blasting device.

Sources said Guialudin and Mongkas reportedly doubled as “guns-for-hire” and engaged in selling stolen firearms to warlords and Moro rebel groups.

Jocson said Guialudin would be quizzed on his possible involvemen­t in the car bombing incident in Cotabato City that killed eight people and injured more than 30 others.

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