The Philippine intelligence community has already warned of a possible retaliatory attack after the Philippine military killed hundreds of ISIS-linked terrorists that sealed the end of the war in the so-called five-month battle in Marawi City.
The Philippine police foiled what could be the biggest bloody bomb attack this quarter in ISULAN town in the province of Sultan Kudarat, when police detonated a bomb during the culmination program of the town's grand festival on Wednesday night.
Police attributed the prevention of the bomb explosion as a result of the civilians' vigilance who spotted the bomb in the vicinity of the provincial government capitol building at the height of town's festival.
The civilians celebrating the festival alerted police authorities upon spotting the suspicious box made up of black powder, nails, metals sheet with an explosive device capable of killing and injuring many.
The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was placed by suspicious men between parked vehicles at the entrance of the provincial capitol building grounds where the culmination of the festival was held and thousands of spectators were in attendance.
Upon learning of the suspicious box from civilians, bomb experts were immediately deployed to the vicinity and successfully detonated the bomb.
In November 2015, 15 people were killed in the provincial capitol compound when a suspected person lobbed a grenade into the same compound at the height of an agri-trade fair where farmers brought their produce and sold them to trade visitors.
The Philippine police have mobilized communities to provide them information when they encounter suspicious looking IEDs. The police claimed they have limited number of policemen and they could not be in the same place at the same time because their area of coverage is huge, thus, they need the help of civilians who can be their eyes and ears.
The Philippine police have been conducting public safety campaign in villages to prevent future terror attacks mostly victimizing civilians.
Meanwhile, the Philippine government warned that violent extremism will stay in Mindanao and it needs the support of all sector to suppress the recurring security threat victimizing mostly innocent civilians.
