A cop died and seven others were wounded in a blast from improvised explosives in Magpet town, North Cotabato yesterday.
PO1 Christopher Anadon was driving one of the vehicles in a two-car convoy of the Philippine National Police when the explosives went off at around 5:45pm, GMA News reported.
The blast came from two improvised explosive devices, a police report states, according to Rappler.
The convoy consisted of two patrol cars with members of the North Cotabato Mobile Force Company, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. They were returning from a security mission, the Philippine Star wrote.
Anadon and the seven other injured cops were brought to a hospital but he eventually died around 10pm.
The other victims were identified as SPO1 Michael Mariano Escano, PO2 Marinerl Pastores, PO1 Eliezer Langcuban, PO1 Darrell Ferolino, PO1 Phil Jan Ray Canarejo, PO1 Mark Vincent Capilitan, and PO1 Franz Deo Lechago, the Philippine Star reported.
The New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is believed to have been behind the attack, Police Regional Office-12 spokesperson Superintendent Aldrin Gonzalez told the Philippine Star.
The blast sparked a shootout between the police and the alleged rebels, GMA News reported, but the suspects eventually withdrew and headed towards Barangay (Village) Inac.
The incident happened just a day after military troops and the NPA clashed and figured in a gun battle in the same town, leaving one rebel dead.
