Roadside bomb explodes in Sultan Kudarat

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- A powerful explosive went off just a few feet away from a government bank in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat, around 7:15 a.m. Thursday, a top police official said.

No one, though, was wounded during the blast, according to Senior Superintendent Rolen Balquin, provincial director of the Sultan Kudarat police.

Balquin said they recovered from the site metal fragments of a still unidentified type of explosive.

Balquin, citing as basis the account of some witnesses, said two unidentified men on board a motorcycle left a package in a drainage canal, just few feet away from Land Bank of the Philippines, along the national highway in Poblacion, Tacurong City.

Minutes later, they heard a loud explosion.

Authorities have yet to find out if the latest blast in Sultan Kudarat was related to the signing last Monday of a peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

"This was the first explosion which transpired in Sultan Kudarat province after the signing of the GPH-MILF framework agreement. But we have yet to find out if, indeed, they are related to each other. We're still investigating," Balquin said.

The blast was the second since Balquin assumed post as the province's police director last August.

Also, authorities recovered and defused in different areas in Sultan Kudarat three improvised explosive devices.

Police is still clueless as to the identity and motive of the group that could be behind the latest explosion.