A JUNIOR officer of the Philippine Army was killed while two soldiers were injured after an improvised explosive device (IED) fashioned out as a landmine exploded in Basilan province, the military said Sunday, March 15.

Major Arvin John Encinas, Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) spokesperson, said the incident happened around 7:46 a.m., Sunday, in the village of Limbobong, Maluso, Basilan.

Encinas identified the fatality as Second Lieutenant Jordan Alberio, a platoon leader assigned with the Army’s 68 th Infantry Battalion, who succumbed to major injury.

Wounded were Corporal Jessie Nimer and Corporal Jerom Gonato, who sustained minor injury and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Encinas said the troops were conducting security operation when Alberio accidentally stepped on a landmine in Limbobong, Maluso.

Lieutenant Colonel Freddie Calosing, Army’s 68th Infantry Battalion commander, said the troops strengthened its security operations after they discovered that the Abu Sayyaf bandits have established a makeshift camp in the village of Limbobong.

Calosing said the bandits belong to the group of Basilan-based Abu Sayyaf leader Pasil Bayali.

He added that the troops have recovered IEDs the past few days in the area. (SunStar Zamboanga)