Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) spokesman, said the explosion occured at about 8 a.m. on Monday in Barangay Baiwas, Sumisip, Basilan.

Cabangbang said the “operating troops while en route to their objective on foot” in Barangay Baiwas “accidentally tripped on an improvised explosive device [IED] fashioned out as land mine.”

He did not identify the wounded soldiers but said they belong to the 4th Special Forces Battalion based in Sumisip. Two UH-1H “Huey” helicopters were sent to Sumisip from this city and airlifted the two wounded soldiers to a military hospital here, Cabangbang said.

No group has claimed responsibility over the incident but authorities are eyeing the involvement of the al-
Qaeda, linked Abu Sayyaf bandits.

It was in Barangay Baiwas, Sumisip, where government forces overran in March of 2010 a bomb-making and training camp, known as Camp Hill 850, of the Abu Sayyaf bandits.

(Bong Garcia Jr.)