1 dead, 4 rescued after gas explosion levels Baltimore homes

BALTIMORE (AP) — A natural gas explosion destroyed three row houses in Baltimore on Monday, killing a woman and trapping other people in the wreckage. At least four people were hospitalized with serious injuries as firefighters searched for more survivors.

Dozens of firefighters converged on the disaster scene, where the natural gas explosion reduced to the homes to piles of rubble. A fourth house in the row was ripped open, and windows were shattered in nearby homes, leaving the neighborhood strewn with debris and glass.

“It’s a disaster. It’s a mess. It’s unbelievable,” said Diane Glover, who lives across the street. The explosion shattered her windows and blew open her front door. “I’m still shaken up,” she said hours later.

Four of the homes’ occupants were taken to hospitals in serious condition, while an adult woman was pronounced dead at the scene, a fire spokeswoman said. Rescuers were painstakingly going through the wreckage by hand. About two hours after the explosion, a line of firefighters removed a person on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

Baltimore Fire Department spokeswoman Blair Adams said at least five people were inside, maybe more, when the homes exploded.

“They were beneath the rubble,” Adams said. “You have homes that were pretty much crumbled ... A ton of debris on the ground. So, we’re pulling and trying to comb through to see if we can find any additional occupants.”

While the cause wasn’t immediately clear, The Baltimore Sun reported last year that dangerous gas leaks have become much more frequent, with nearly two dozen discovered each day on average, according to the utility’s reports to federal authorities. The Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. has thousands of miles of obsolete pipes that need to be replaced, an effort that would cost nearly $1 billion and take two decades, the newspaper said.

BGE turned off the gas in the immediate area after receiving an “initial call” from the fire department at 9:54 a.m. on Monday, utility spokeswoman Linda Foy said.

“We are on the scene and working closely with the fire department to make the situation safe,” she said, without answering any questions from reporters. “Once the gas is off, we can begin to safely assess the situation, including inspections of BGE equipment.”

Glover, 56, and her 77-year-old father, Moses Glover, were at home when the massive explosion shook their house, knocking over a fan and some of her DVDs.

“I jumped up to see what was going on. I looked out the bathroom window and there was a house on the ground,” she said. “It sounded like a bomb went off.”

Neighbors scrambled toward the rubble, calling out for survivors. Kevin Matthews, who lives on the block, told The Sun that he could hear trapped children shouting: “Come get us! We’re stuck!” Firefighters and police officers then showed up and took over.

BGE asked the Maryland Public Service Commission in 2018 to approve a new gas system infrastructure and a cost recovery mechanism to pay for upgrades needed to close the system’s many leaks.

“Founded in 1816, BGE is the oldest gas distribution company in the nation. Like many older gas systems, a larger portion of its gas main and services infrastructure consists of cast iron and bare steel – materials that are obsolete and susceptible to failure with age,” the utility said.

When aging pipes fail, then tend to make headlines. Last year, a gas explosion ripped the façade off a Maryland office complex in Columbia, affecting more than 20 businesses. No one was injured in the explosion, which happened early on a Sunday morning. In 2016, a gas main break forced the evacuation of the Baltimore County Circuit Courthouse. Under Armour Inc. had to evacuate its Baltimore office after a gas main break in 2012.

Associated Press

Associated Press contributors include Mike Kunzelman in Silver Spring, Brian Witte in Annapolis, and Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia.

Lebanon's leaders face rage, reform calls after blast disaster

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon's embattled leadership, under fire after a massive explosion laid waste to large parts of central Beirut, faced public fury Thursday and stern calls to reform from the visiting French president and the IMF.

Grief has turned to anger in a traumatised nation where at least 149 people died and over 5,000 were injured in Tuesday's colossal explosion of a huge pile of ammonium nitrate that had languished for years in a port warehouse.

To many Lebanese, it was tragic proof of the rot at the core of their governing system which has failed to halt the deepest economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war that has plunged millions into poverty.


French President Emmanuel Macron, on a snap visit to shell-shocked Beirut, pledged to lead international emergency relief efforts and organise an aid conference in the coming days, promising that "Lebanon is not alone".

But he also warned that Lebanon -- already in desperate need of a multi-billion-dollar bailout and hit by political turmoil since October -- would "continue to sink" unless it implements urgent reforms.

Speaking of Lebanon's political leaders, Macron said "their responsibility is huge -- that of a revamped pact with the Lebanese people in the coming weeks, that of deep change".

The International Monetary Fund, whose talks with Lebanon started in May but have since stalled, warned that it was "essential to overcome the impasse in the discussions on critical reforms".

The IMF urged Lebanon -- which is seeking more than $20 billion in external funding and now faces billions more in disaster costs -- "to put in place a meaningful program to turn around the economy" following Tuesday's disaster.

'I understand your anger'

Macron's visit to the small Mediterranean country, France's Middle East protege and former colonial-era protectorate, was the first by a foreign head of state since the unprecedented tragedy.

The French president visited Beirut's harbourside blast zone, a wasteland of blackened ruins, rubble and charred debris where a 140 metre (460 feet) wide crater has filled with sea water.

As he inspected a devastated pharmacy, crowds outside vented their fury at the country's "terrorist" leadership, shouting "revolution" and "the people want an end to the regime!".

Later Macron was thronged by survivors who pleaded with him to help get rid of their reviled ruling elite.

Under the nervous gaze of his suited bodyguards, Macron gave one woman a prolonged embrace triggering wild cheers from the crowd.

"I understand your anger. I am not here to endorse... the regime," Macron assured the crowd. "It is my duty to help you as a people, to bring you medicine and food."

Another woman implored Macron to keep French financial aid out of the reach of Lebanese officials, accused by many of their people of rampant graft and greed.

"I guarantee you that this aid will not fall into corrupt hands," the president pledged.

'System has to go'

Compounding the woes, Lebanon recorded 255 coronavirus cases Thursday -- its highest single-day infection tally -- after the blast upended a planned lockdown and sent thousands streaming into overflowing hospitals.

The disaster death toll rose from 137 to 149 on Thursday evening, the health ministry said, and was expected to further rise as rescue workers kept digging through the rubble.

Offering a glimmer of hope amid the carnage, a French rescuer said there was a "good chance of finding... people alive", telling Macron seven or eight missing people could be stuck in a room buried under the rubble.

Even as they counted their dead, many Lebanese were consumed with anger over the blast they see as the most shocking expression yet of their leadership's incompetence.

"We can't bear more than this. This is it. The whole system has got to go," said 30-year-old Mohammad Suyur.

A flood of angry posts on social media suggested the disaster could reignite a cross-sectarian protest movement that erupted in October but faded amid the grinding economic hardship and the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab and President Michel Aoun have promised to put the culprits responsible for the disaster behind bars.

And late Thursday a military prosecutor announced 16 port staff had been detained over the blast.

But trust in institutions is low and few on Beirut's streets held out hope for an impartial inquiry.

Macron told reporters that "an international, open and transparent probe is needed to prevent things from remaining hidden and doubt from creeping in".

Amid the gloom and fury, the aftermath of the terrible explosion has also yielded countless uplifting examples of spontaneous solidarity.

Business owners swiftly took to social media, posting offers to repair doors, paint damaged walls or replace shattered windows for free.

Lebanon's diaspora, believed to be nearly three times the tiny country's population of five million, has rushed to launch fundraisers and wire money to loved ones.

In Beirut, much of the cleanup has been handled by volunteers.

"We're sending people into the damaged homes of the elderly and handicapped to help them find a home for tonight," said Husam Abu Nasr, a 30-year-old volunteer.

"We don't have a state to take these steps, so we took matters into our own hands."

Agence France-Presse

Investigators open criminal probe into LA explosion

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police and fire investigators launched a criminal probe Sunday into the cause of an explosion at a hash oil manufacturer in downtown Los Angeles that sent firefighters running for their lives.

Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s major crimes division were working with the city Fire Department’s arson investigators to determine what might have sparked the blast that shot a ball of flames out of the building Saturday night and scorched a fire truck across the street, police spokesman Josh Rubenstein said.

“We’re in the very early stages of the investigation ... to understand what happened and figure out how to move forward,” he said.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was assisting local fire investigators, an agency spokeswoman said.

The blast injured a dozen firefighters. Some of them who ran out onto sidewalks, where they tore off their burning protective equipment, including melted helmets, officials said.

“Everybody off the roof!” a firefighter shouted in scanner traffic captured on Broadcastify.com.

“Mayday mayday mayday! All companies out of the building. Mayday mayday mayday!” another shouted.

Firefighters first thought they were battling a routine structure fire, city fire Capt. Erik Scott told KNX Radio, but as they got a little farther in the building they started to hear “a loud hissing sound and a significant rumbling that you could feel vibrating throughout the area.”

He said “one significant explosion” shook the neighborhood around 6:30 p.m. Firefighters inside had to run through a wall of flames he estimated as 30 feet (9 meters) high and wide, and those on the roof scrambled down a ladder that was engulfed in flames.

Three firefighters were released after spending the night in the hospital, fire department spokesman Nicholas Prange said Sunday. Of the eight who remained hospitalized, two were in critical but stable condition, he said. Officials initially announced that 11 firefighters were injured. But Prange said a 12th was treated and released for a minor injury.

All were expected to survive.

“Things could have been so much worse,” said Los Angeles Fire Department Medical Director Dr. Marc Eckstein, who helped treat the injured at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.

There was light to moderate smoke when firefighters entered the one-story building in the city’s Toy District and went on the roof — normal procedures to try to quickly knock down any flames.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said one of the firefighters inside the building thought things didn’t seem right — the pressure from the smoke and heat coming from the rear of the building were increasing. He directed everyone to get out, and they quickly started exiting the building as it was rocked by the explosion.

Firefighters on the roof scrambled down ladders with their protective coats on fire. The wall of flames shot out the building and burned seats inside a fire truck across the street.

More than 200 firefighters rushed to the scene, and dozens of engines, trucks and rescue vehicles clogged the streets. The fire spread to several nearby buildings, but firefighters were able to douse it in about an hour.

Scott said the building was a warehouse for SmokeTokes, which he described as a supplier for makers of “butane honey oil.” Butane is an odorless gas that easily ignites, and it’s used in the process to extract the high-inducing chemical THC from cannabis to create a highly potent concentrate also known as hash oil. The oil is used in vape pens, edibles, waxes and other products.

A call to SmokeTokes went unanswered on Sunday, and the company’s voicemail was full.

On its website, SmokeTokes advertises a variety of products including “puff bars,” pipes, “dab” tools, vaporizers, “torches and butane,” and cartridges. The company says it is “an international distributor and wholesaler of smoking and vaping products, and related accessories.”

Prange, the LAFD spokesman, said carbon dioxide and butane canisters were found inside the building but that it was still not clear what caused the blast.

Adam Spiker, executive director of the cannabis industry group Southern California Coalition, said he didn’t know what activities were taking place inside the building. However, if the business was using butane in cannabis extraction it would be illegal because the city has never issued a license for that type of operation.

Because of safety concerns, such businesses are typically restricted to industrial areas and kept away from urban centers.

“If they were doing volatile extraction with butane ... they couldn’t be legal in the city of LA to do those types of activities,” Spiker said.

He said the coalition was unaware of the business having any type of license and “something about this doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Information so far “puts up a lot of alarm bells,” Spiker said.

In 2016, there was another major fire at a business called Smoke Tokes at a nearby address. The Los Angeles Times reported at the time that it took more than 160 firefighters to put out the blaze and that they encountered pressurized gas cylinders that exploded in the fire.

No one was injured in the fire. It was unclear whether that business and the one that burned Saturday were connected.

___

Associated Press writers Michael Blood and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Daisy Nguyen in San Francisco contributed to this report.

AP

WATCH | At least 19 killed in blast at Ariana Grande concert in UK arena

A blast on Monday night at a concert in the English city of Manchester where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing left at least 19 people dead and about 50 injured in what British police said was being treated as a terrorist incident.

Police said they were responding to reports of an explosion and that there were a number of confirmed fatalities and others injured at the arena, which has a capacity for 21,000 people.

A witness who attended the concert said she felt a huge blast as she was leaving the arena, followed by screaming and a rush as thousands of people trying to escape.

WATCH REUTERS TV REPORT ON THE INCIDENT:


“We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming,” concert-goer Catherine Macfarlane told Reuters.

“It was a huge explosion — you could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming and just trying to get out.”

Witnesses reported that many children were at the concert.

Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe, opened in 1995 and has a capacity for 21,000 people, according to its website. It is a popular concert and sporting venue.

A spokesman for Ariana Grande’s record label said that the singer was “okay”. A video posted on Twitter showed fans screaming and running out of the venue.

Britain is on its second-highest alert level of “severe” meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.

Following is a Reuters summary of what is known and not about the incident.

* Death toll: British police said 19 people were killed and 59 people had been treated in hospital. A total of 60 ambulances attended the incident.

Many of the fans at the concert were young people. The blast sparked panic as thousands of people rushed for the exits, witnesses told Reuters.

* US singer Ariana Grande had just finished a concert at the Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe that can hold 21,000 people, when the blast occurred.

Grande, 23, later said on Twitter: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”

* Parents hunted for missing children after the blast. Many turned to social media to seek loved ones.

“Everyone pls share this, my little sister Emma was at the Ari concert tonight in #Manchester and she isn’t answering her phone, pls help me,” said one message posted alongside a picture of a blonde-haired girl with flowers in her hair.

* Police said they were called at 10:33 pm (2133 GMT) after reports of an explosion.

Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said police were treating the blast as a terrorist incident and were working with counter-terrorism police and intelligence agencies. They gave no further details on their investigation.

* It is unclear where exactly the blast occurred, but initial reports indicated it happened either just outside the Manchester Arena or near a foyer.

It is also unclear whether it was a bomb. Police have so far not said what caused the blast.

* US officials told Reuters that the timing and venue suggested a terror attack, possibly by a suicide bomber.

“This does not appear to have been a carefully planned attack involving multiple actors, extensive surveillance of the target or exotic materials,” said another US official.

“That is what is so worrisome about this kind of thing – how simple it is to indiscriminately kill, wound and terrorize innocent people. With our partners, the US has begun the process of combing through the available intelligence to see if anything was missed.”

* Prime Minister Theresa May said authorities were working to establish the full details of what police were treating as “an appalling terrorist attack.” She said her thoughts were with the victims and the families of those who have been affected.

* What about the June 8 election? PM May’s ruling Conservative Party, which has a big lead in opinion polls, is preparing to suspend election campaigning due to the blast.

* No militant group has claimed responsibility so far but Islamic State supporters celebrated on social media. Twitter accounts affiliated to the militant Islamist group have used hashtags referring to the blast to post celebratory messages, with some users encouraging similar attacks elsewhere.

* The blast occurred on the anniversary of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death on a London street on May 22, 2013.

Rigby’s gruesome murder gained international notoriety when Michael Adebolajo was filmed by passers-by standing in the street with blood-soaked hands trying to justify the attack.

source: interaksyon.com

At least 30 dead in 'terrorist' attack on Ankara peace rally

ANKARA - At least 30 people were killed Saturday in twin explosions in Turkey's capital Ankara, targeting activists gathering for a peace rally organized by leftist and pro-Kurdish opposition groups.

Corpses of activists were seen strewn across the ground after the blasts, with the banners they had been holding lying next to them.

At least 30 people were killed and 126 wounded, the interior ministry said in a statement giving the first official toll.

"We curse and condemn this atrocious attack taking aim at our democracy and our country's peace," the statement said.

A Turkish government official told AFP that the authorities "suspect that there is a terrorist connection," without giving further details.

There were scenes of chaos after the blast, as ambulances searched for the wounded and police cordoned off the area.

"We heard one huge blast and then one smaller explosion and then there was a a great movement and panic. Then we saw corpses around the station," said Ahmet Onen, 52.

"A demonstration that was to promote peace has turned into a massacre, I don’t understand this," he said, in floods of tears.

Turkish police fired in the air to disperse demonstrators angered by the deaths of their fellow activists from the scene, an AFP correspondent said.

Amateur footage broadcast by NTV television showed smiling activists holding hands and dancing and then falling to the ground as the huge explosion went off behind them.

Initial reports spoke of a single explosion but Turkish media said later there had been two separate blasts in short sequence.

The authorities were exploring the possibility that the blasts could have been caused by a suicide bomber, the official Anatolia news agency said.

'Barbaric attack'

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had been briefed over the blast by Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu, Anatolia said.

"We are investigating the explosion and will share our findings with the public as soon as possible," a Turkish official told AFP, without giving further details.

The area was to have hosted an anti-government peace rally organized by several leftist groups later in the day, including the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

"We are faced with a huge massacre. A barbaric attack has been committed," said the HDP's leader Selahattin Demirtas.

The attack comes with Turkey on edge ahead of November 1 polls and a wave of unrest over the past few months.

An attack in the predominantly Kurdish town of Suruc on July 20 targeting pro-HDP activists and blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists killed 32 people and wounded a hundred others.

The militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) accused Ankara of collaborating with IS and resumed attacks on the Turkish security forces after observing a two-year ceasefire.

Over 140 members of the security forces have since been killed while Ankara claims to have killed over 1,700 Kurdish militants in weeks of bombardments of PKK targets in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq.

There had been suggestions that the PKK was about to announce a new ceasefire to help the HDP boost its score in the upcoming election.

The HDP performed strongly in the last vote on June 7, winning 80 seats to deprive President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of an outright majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002.

The AKP then failed to form a coalition in months of talks, prompting Erdogan -- who had been hoping for a large majority to push through reforms to boost his powers -- to call another election on November 1.

The office of Davutoglu said that he had cancelled election campaigning for the next three days.

He was to host a meeting of top officials, including powerful spy chief Hakan Fidan, in the early afternoon to discuss the attack.

source: interaksyon.com

9, including 7 kids, killed in attack on Indian consulate in Afghanistan

Suicide bombers targeted the Indian consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Saturday, detonating an explosives-packed car and killing nine civilians, including seven children in a nearby mosque.

A spokesman for the Taliban militant group immediately denied responsibility for the blast that erupted outside the Indian mission and left the mosque, private houses, tailors and other shops in ruins.

"A car containing explosives hit a barrier near the consulate and detonated," Ahmadzia Abdulzai, spokesman for Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital, told AFP. "There were three suicide bombers in the car."

Nangarhar police chief Sharif Amin confirmed that the consulate was the intended target of the attack, which created a large crater in the road as survivors wearing bloodstained clothing ran for cover.

"Among the civilians killed were seven children inside the mosque," Amin said.

The interior ministry condemned the bombing as "heinous" and said nine people had died in total, with 21 other civilians wounded.

Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry in New Delhi, said that no officials were injured in the attack -- the first major strike in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan that started on July 10.

India, which has spent more than two billion dollars of aid in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime fell in 2001, has previously been targeted in the war-torn country.

In 2008, a car bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the embassy was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.

In 2010, two guesthouses in Kabul used by Indians were attacked.

India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a "proxy war" in Afghanistan between India and its archrival Pakistan.

India reacted to the consulate attack with thinly veiled criticism of neighboring Pakistan for failing to crack down on Pakistan-based militants and their safe havens.

"This attack has once again highlighted the main threat to Afghanistan's security and stability stems from terrorism and the terror machine that continues to operate from beyond its borders," the Delhi government said.

Pakistan, which is widely seen as covertly supporting the Taliban, denies supporting militants active in Afghanistan and points to its own bloody fight against Islamist extremists.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that their fighters were not involved in Saturday's strike.

"We do not claim the responsibility for this attack," he said.

The hardline Taliban have led a 12-year insurgency against the Afghan government since being overthrown in a US-led invasion for harboring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2001.

But Afghanistan is beset by a myriad of armed groups ranging from Islamist rebels to criminal gangs and militias formed during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and the 1992-1996 civil war.

The Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based group allied with the Taliban and closely associated with the Pakistani intelligence service, was blamed for earlier attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

Jalalabad city is situated on the key route from the Pakistani border region -- where many militants are based -- to Kabul, and it has been the location of repeated assaults in recent years.

The International Committee of the Red Cross compound in the city was hit on May 29, with the Taliban rebels also denying any involvement.

One Afghan guard died in that attack, which triggered widespread outrage as the ICRC is one of the most respected aid groups in Afghanistan and has remained strictly neutral during the war.

In March, seven suicide bombers attacked a police base in Jalalabad, killing five officers.

The previous month, a bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gates of the National Directorate of Security spy agency and detonated bombs, killing two intelligence workers.

Nangarhar province has seen heavy fighting over recent days with more than 20 Afghan policemen and dozens of Taliban insurgents killed when hundreds of fighters ambushed a police and military convoy on Friday.

The US State Department said it was closing at least 22 US embassies or consulates on Sunday, a workday in many Islamic countries, due to security threats.

source: interaksyon.com

Roadside bomb explodes along N. Cotabato-Maguindanao border, no one hurt

A powerful improvised explosive device (IED) fashioned from an 81-mm mortar projectile went off along the highway between the neighboring towns of Pagalungan, Maguindanao and Pikit, North Cotabato around 9:15 a.m. today.

The explosion took place about seven hours after another IED, also fashioned from an 81-mm mortar, was recovered in Poblacion, Midsayap in North Cotabato, in front of a vulcanizing shop just a few feet away from the national road.

Inspector Sulayman Bakal, chief of Pagalungan Police, said the explosion was so loud that it was heard around 400 meters away from his station.

The blast site, he said, is only 100 meters away from the Pagalungan Bridge, one of the oldest structures built along the Maguindanao-Cotabato highway.

The bridge connects the towns of Pagalungan and Datu Montawal in Maguindanao to North Cotabato towns.

Sulayman hinted the roadside blast might have something to do with the ongoing armed fighting between the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the government troops.

No one, though, was reported hurt during the blast.

The Pagalungan explosion, reports from the police said, was the second since the fighting erupted on Monday.

Around 12:45 a.m. Monday, a grenade exploded at a paramilitary detachment in Pikit, wounding four CAFGU members and a civilian.

'No reason to fear'

Sr. Supt. Cornelio Salinas, provincial director of North Cotabato PNP, believed another group could be behind the series of roadside blasts along the Maguindanao-Cotabato highway.

“This group, which is not in any way connected to the ongoing fighting, is out to wreak havoc and fear among residents of North Cotabato,” said Salinas.

He, however, refused to identify the group.

Despite the blasts, the police and Army personnel manning the Maguindanao-Cotabato highway refused to close the road for traffic.

“There is no reason to fear. We have no reason to close the highway. We just want people in the community to be vigilant, to be extra-careful while we’re experiencing this situation,” said Salinas.

He assured the commuting public that the police in North Cotabato, including other law enforcement agencies and Army personnel, are always “on alert”’ to secure the safety of the commuters, government installations, and the community.

Mass evacuation and displacement

The fighting, which started Monday, resulted in the massive displacement of residents from the towns of Datu Saudi, Ampatuan, Guindulungan, and Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao, and the towns of Midsayap, Aleosan, and Pikit in North Cotabato.

Data from the Philippine Red Cross-Cotabato chapter said that 1,023 families from Datu Saudi, most of them from the indigenous peoples’ communities, were displaced.

The internal refugees are temporarily housed in two evacuation centers.

At least 693 families coming from Barangays Iginagampong, Maitumaig, Sitio Lapitus, and Sitio Bai are housed temporarily at Datu Pendililang Piang Elementary School, while 330 families from Barangays Babingi and Salvo sought refuge in the municipal covered court in the Poblacion, the PRC said.

The PRC Cotabato also recorded at least 689 internally-displaced families in Barangays Poblacion and Dalingaoen in Pikit.

As this developed, Secretary Teresita Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), assured war victims and residents from the affected provinces that government forces are “ready” for necessary defensive actions to protect and ensure their welfare should the perpetrators launch attacks again.

Deles, in a statement issued to media, said that the BIFM is not part of the MILF, and “thus, not covered by any ceasefire agreement.”

“This act of aggression of the BIFM is meant to derail the peace process between the government and the MILF. We assure the public that these incidents will not affect the substantial gains that we have carefully and persistently built with our counterparts, foremost of which, is the ceasefire mechanism that continues to hold on the ground and kept the peace for our communities,” said Deles. – BM, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com