Unknown men fire at house of late Ampatuan’s bro; 2 minors hurt

COTABATO CITY—Unidentified armed men fired a rifle grenade toward the house of the brother of the late Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. on Saturday dawn, leaving two children injured, the police said.

Chief Insp. Reynato Mauricio, Maguindanao provincial police spokesperson, said the two children were slightly injured when the grenade landed on the house of Datu Pandag Ampatuan, younger brother of Ampatuan Sr.

Mauricio said the grenade attack occurred at past 4 a.m. in Datu Pandag’s home in Barangay Poblacion 2 in Shariff Aguak.

The minors were still asleep when the grenade attack occurred, he said.

Police are still trying to determine the motive and identities of the attackers, according to Mauricio.

It was the latest attack on a member of the Ampatuan clan, some members of which had been accused of involvement in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre that killed more than 50 persons, 32 of them journalists.

On May 7, a 9-year-old girl was also killed while her parents and siblings were injured when unidentified suspects fired a rifle grenade into the house of former Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said the girl and her family lived a few meters away from the site of the explosion.