COTABATO CITY – Authorities have formed a task force composed of police and military agents to probe the bombing that killed two persons and wounded over 30 others in a mall in this city on New Year’s Eve.
Chief Supt. Eliseo Rasco of the Police Regional Office 12 said the formation of the task group would hasten the process of establishing the identities of suspects and the motive behind the planting of improvised explosive devices at the entrance of South Seas Mall here mostly occupied by firecracker vendors.
A day after the explosion, Malacanang assured the public, especially the victims, that probers will “get to the bottom” of the deadly attack.
“We empathize with the families, relatives, and friends of those who suffered from this unhappy occurrence. To them we vow that we will get to the bottom of this at the soonest possible time,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
The task force, formed on Tuesday, is composed of investigation experts from the Regional Police Office 12, the city police, and the Army 6th Infantry Division, backed by plainclothes agents from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police office.
Rasco and Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, Army 6th ID commander, appealed to local communities to refrain from insinuating on Facebook that the bombing was meant to derail the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
“We have to give investigators enough time to identify who were behind that bombing that we condemn strongly,” Rasco said.
Sobejana it was possible that a local Islamic State-inspired group could be responsible for the attack. “Our intelligence units are helping the police look into the incident. We just have to patiently wait for the outcome of the investigation,” Sobejana said.
Presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. has urged sobriety in the aftermath of the blast. (Ali Macabalang)