Blast rocks Cotabato City bus terminal, 1 wounded

Grenade lobbed at bus terminal gate in Cotabato City

GRENADE ATTACK. Police cordoned off the main entrance of Husky Bus  terminal in Cotabato City after several men tossed a hand grenade early Monday morning. (PHOTO COURTESY OF DXMS RADYO BIDA)

COTABATO CITY  – One person was wounded when several motorcycle-riding men hurled a hand grenade at a bus terminal here early Monday morning.

Maj. John Vincent Bravo, police station 2 chief, said the blast occurred at the gate of Husky Bus terminal along the national highway at Esteros district.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the incident but investigators said it was meant to threaten the bus firm, which had been reportedly receiving extortion demands.

The blast delayed the first trip of the bus which was supposed to leave for General Santos City before 6 a.m. as bomb experts did a post-blast probe.

On May 31 this year, while the city was hosting the regional competition of the Palarong Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao Athletic Association’s (BARMMAA), three improvised explosive devices (IED)s planted in the same bus terminal here were safely detonated by bomb experts.

More than a month before, on April 17, at least six passengers were wounded after an improvised explosive went off inside a new double-decker bus at the public terminal in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.

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