Dispute, not terrorism, might have caused Iligan blast, says cop chief

ILIGAN CITY—A dispute between two groups, which was initially not named, could have triggered Saturday evening’s grenade attack that killed two people (not three as earlier reported) and wounded 24 others here, the police said yesterday.

The initial number of wounded was placed at 36 but was trimmed down after the police double-checked their list against hospital admissions.

City police director Chief Superintendent Celso Regencia told the Inquirer by phone that the findings had boosted initial theories that the explosion in El Centro, a popular rendezvous for Iliganons because of live bands performances especially during Saturdays, was not the work of terrorists.

Regencia had earlier said that prior to the explosion, which hit a section of Roxas and Quezon avenues, the police’s intelligence community had received information about a terror plot targeting several areas of the city.

But he said this was not enough to draw conclusions on the identities of the perpetrators.

Regencia said after further investigation, the police had determined that one of the groups, who felt aggrieved from a still unknown dispute, wanted to exact revenge and staged the grenade attack.

A source privy to the investigation said one of the wounded victims was the possible target of the attack. He did not say who the victim was.

The dead victims were identified as Junile Dumalagan, 24, of Barangay (village) Del Carmen; and James Hangad of Sta. Elena village. Dumalagan and Hangad, like most blast victims, were college students on a night-out in the area.

Shortly after the explosion around 7:50 p.m., an unidentified man was seen hastily leaving on an Asian Utility Vehicle (AUV).

Regencia said it was not immediately known how many people were on the AUV as it sped off amid the chaos.

Colonel Daniel Lucero, commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, said post-blast investigators had recovered fragments of the grenade.

In July 2010, a grenade attack in the city was blamed on a group of car thieves, who were angered by a police crackdown on their activities. Seven people were injured in the said blast that hit the Iligan public market at dawn.—Richel Umel with a report from Julie Alipala