DATU SAUDI AMPATUAN, Maguindanao -- An early morning coffee in a bakery in Kitango village became a tragic end for 65-year-old Malempanak Nunokan, a tobacco vendor.

Nunokan was killed along with two others when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in a roadside around 6:15 a.m. Monday, ripping through the storefront of Bai Lanang Bakery and Coffeeshop, some five meters away where the victims had coffee.

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A police report identified the other casualty as 25-year-old Thong Mansor Radzak, a gasoline retailer. The third one is yet unidentified.

Villagers said the victims died while being brought to a hospital in nearby Datu Piang town.

Seven more people were injured in the blast, many of them brought to hospitals in Cotabato City.

Monday’s explosion, which is the second time in the town in three days - an IED also exploded in a garbage dump in Kitango village on Saturday. No one was reported hurt in this incident.

According to an initial police probe, the bomb was planted inside a halved drum used as garbage bin which was placed beside the road.

After the blast, the drum was in tatters and a crater half a meter in diameter was created on the ground.

The police said they are still probing who could be the perpetrators of the blast.

An Army explosive and ordnance personnel said the make-up of the bomb used in Monday’s blast appear to resemble the ones used last Saturday.

But the authorities seem not to care on blast evidence scattered in the vicinity, as police and Army personnel did not cordon off the area for further examination.

People soon skimmed through the damaged store and picked on the tattered remains of the drum.

Philippine Army troops deployed to provide security cover after the blast told reporters they have recovered one more bomb planted just across the street from where the first explosion happened.

But they were not able to show where the material is.

The Army personnel also said they were also searching for a third one.

It was not clearly explained how they came to know there were that number of bombs planted in the village.

As a result of the blast, Kitango villager Nono Noor horded his family in a motorcab, hauled a few bags of their clothes, and sped to a nearby village.

Noor said they will get back “kung maging peaceful na ulit.” A neighbor follow suit.

Two hours after the blast, an armored column of Army troops marched through the provincial road in nearby Sambulawan village “to clear the road” of threats.