COTABATO CITY – Unidentified attackers harassed two military bases in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte on Sunday night, the Army here said Monday.

“Nobody was hurt during the separate harassments,” Lt. Col. Ronald Suscano, spokesperson for the Army 6th Infantry Division, told reporters in an interview.

At about 7 p.m. on Sunday, an unidentified man left an improvised explosive device near a parked Truck Armored Vehicle (TAV) of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion assigned to the Army 34th Infantry Battalion detachment in Barangay Linantangan, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao del Sur.

“It went off, but nobody was injured, and no major damage was caused to the Army vehicle,” Suscano said.

At about the same time, about 15 armed men harassed the detachment of the 12th Mechanized Company of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion in Talitay, Maguindanao del Norte.

The alert soldiers repulsed the attack by engaging the attackers in a 20-minute gun battle until they fled. Nobody was hurt among the soldiers.

Following the series of harassment against military units, Suscano said all Army personnel have been placed on heightened alert.

It was the fourth attack on government forces in the two provinces since July 18, when two men on a motorcycle lobbed a hand grenade at a military convoy, leaving two soldiers and three civilians injured in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur.

On the evening of the same day, an Army base in Barangay Macaguiling, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte, was also subjected to a grenade attack. The grenade landed inside the 7th Infantry Battalion detachment, but nobody was injured.

Army and police officials said the series of harassment against the military installations could be a retaliatory attack following a successful Army campaign against lawless elements, including the death of a ranking Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters leader. (PNA)