Cotabato City, Philippines - Security forces arrested four suspects in the bombing of a passenger bus that killed 10 people in the southern Philippines, a regional army spokesman said on Sunday.
The four suspects were arrested on Saturday at their hideout in a slum area in Cotabato City, 960 kilometres south of Manila, said Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Hao.
Hao said the raid was conducted after police took into custody on a 15-year-old boy in Matalam town in nearby North Cotabato province, where the bombing occurred on Thursday.
Hao said the boy told the police that he was forced by the suspects to put the bomb inside the bus.
“The four suspects have been brought to the provincial police headquarters in Kidapawan City pending the filing of criminal charges on Tuesday,” Hao said.
North Cotabato provincial governor Emmylou Mendoza offered a 100,000-peso (about R15900) cash reward for information to help authorities capture the suspects.
Investigators have not yet determined whether the bombing was a terrorist attack or the criminal activity of an extortion gang operating in the area. - Sapa-dpa