2 children hurt in rifle grenade attack in Maguindanao town

KORONADAL CITY , South Cotabato—Two children were slightly hurt when unidentified gunmen fired a rifle grenade toward a house in Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Maguindanao at past 7 p.m. Thursday, police said.

Senior Supt. Agustin Tello, Maguindanao police provincial director, said the children, whose identity he withheld, are now recuperating at a hospital in Cotabato City.

Quoting a police report from Datu Anggal, Tello said the victims were inside their house made of light materials in Barangay (village) Poblacion when a 40 mm rifle grenade landed on its roof, hitting the children.

No one has claimed responsibility, but Datu Anggal is one of the hostile towns in Maguindanao where the extremist armed group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) operates.

Even its town mayor, Nathaniel Midtimbang, survived a grenade attack last May in nearby Talayan town, also in Maguindanao.

The mayor has been actively supporting anti-drug and anti-terrorism driver of the government.