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The twin bombings here, meanwhile, wounded S/Sgt. Noel de Guzman, a bomb expert from the Army's 39th Infantry Battalion as he was trying to defuse the bomb, and a driver of a delivery van.
Police said that the first bomb was discovered in front of Sheer Marketing along the national highway, planted in one of the tires of a parked yellow Multicab.
But while authorities gathered to defuse the bomb, the first explosion was heard at the junction of Plaridel and JP Laurel streets around 1:30 p.m. No one was hurt in the explosion which Chief Insp. Leo Ajero, officer-in-charge of the Kidapawan police, believed was a “diversionary tactic.”
When authorities resumed working on the other bomb, it exploded as De Guzman was trying to defuse it. He was wounded on his chest and shoulder. But workers at the Malaluan Hospital here where De Guzman and the unidentified driver were being treated said that the victims were already out of danger.
Police said both the bombs were from the ammunition of an 81mm mortar.
Sgt. Elmer Villanueva, member of the Explosives and Ordnance Disposal Team of the 39IB, said that a cellular phone attached to the bombs triggered the explosions.
Kidapawan City Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco said the bombings “were isolated cases and will have no effect on the city’s business climate.”
“We already had taken measures to secure the city from any terror attacks,” he added.