FILE PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar. Screengrab from Facebook / PNP livestream
MANILA, Philippines — Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, chief of the Philippine National Police, ordered on Monday the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region police to conduct a thorough probe on the grenade blast near an Army detachment along the national highway in Sitio Pansol, Barangay Macasampen in Guindulungan town, Maguindanao province, at around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The Army suspects the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters or the Daulah Islamiyah to be behind Saturday’s grenade attack, which Maguindanao Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu said could have been directed at his convoy.
Mangudadatu’s convoy, made up of at least 20 vehicles, was passing by when the incident happened. Nobody was hurt in the grenade blast.
Eleazar pointed out that investigators would look at the angle that the grenade blast was targeting Mangudadatu’s convoy.
“The incident may have only happened coincidentally with Representative Mangudadatu’s convoy passing by,” he said.