Blast rocks Bukidnon police station

Photo shows the damaged roof of the mess hall of the Quezon municipal police station in Bukidnon  due to a blast on Thursday night, October 24, 2019. (Photo courtesy of Quezon, Bukidnon police)

MANILA, Philippines – An explosion rocked the Quezon municipal police station in Bukidnon Thursday night, police said on Friday.

Police said a man hurled a still-undetermined explosive at the mess hall at around 7:45 p.m.

A police officer on duty pursued and fired at the man, who sped off aboard a motorcycle.

No casualties were reported, although the blast damaged the roof of the police station and a police officer’s parked vehicle.

Lt. Col. Mardy Hortillosa, spokesperson of the Northern Mindanao police, said the explosion was possibly a retaliatory attack of the New People’s Army (NPA) following successive anti-insurgency operations.

“It’s one of the possible angles but we need to investigate,” he said.

Pursuit operations against the suspect are ongoing. / gsg