A POLICE bomb disposal expert was killed when he activated a booby trap left behind by suspects who earlier bombed transmission tower no. 14 of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in Kauswagan town in Lanao del Norte last Friday.
Police Regional Office-10 spokesperson Major Joanne Navarro said Police Master Sergeant Roseller Hangka died at the district hospital in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte after he sustained injuries from the blast.
Navarro said Hangka was a member of the Lanao del Norte, PNP Explosive Disposal Unit who responded to the reports from residents of explosion heard in hinterland Barangay Paiton, six kilometers from Kauswagan town proper.
“Together with other policemen and army soldiers started a grid search when they reached Barangay Paiton,” Navarro said.
Navarro said she was told that the search was about to end at 5 am Friday when Hangka saw a mobile SIM card lying on the ground in his grid area.
She said Hangka reportedly picked up the SIM card, which unknowingly to him was attached to a booby trap.
Navarro said the booby trap exploded as Hangka picked up the sim card.
Lanao del Norte Police Director Sandy Vales said a team of policemen and army solders went to Barangay Paiton when resident reported hearing a series of explosions at the 138-kiloVolt electricity transmission line servicing the towns of Baloi and Aurora, Zamboanga del Norte.
Vales said the team found that NGCP tower was toppled by the series of explosion and conducted a methodical search around the area.
“The explosive team made a thorough search but the accident did happened,” Vales said.
He said the downing of tower 14 did not cause blackouts in the towns of Baloi and Aurora because the NGCP diverted the flow of electricity to other unaffected towers.
The transmission lines of NGCP have been frequently bombed in the past but have caused minor disruption on electricity distribution in Mindanao.
The use of booby traps along with land mines have been banned by the International Humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention on the conduct of war.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of Barangay Kawit Occidental in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte denied that residents from her village flee to safety after the blast.
“That’s not true. We even held sports events there on that day (Sept. 10),” Venus Lozano, Kawit Occidental chairperson, told reporters in Iligan City. (With reports from Nora Soriño)
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