Ex-village official hurt in Cotabato grenade attack

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A former village official here was injured when unidentified men hurled a grenade into his house while an improvised explosive device also went off near a police precinct on Wednesday.

The attacks happened barely 12 hours after a village chair and six others were wounded in an ambush that also killed two other persons.

Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. condemned the fresh rash of violence hitting the city and theorized the attacks could be related but said he was leaving the investigation to the police.

Supt. Marlow Martinez, deputy city police chief, said former Rosary Heights 4 councilor Ghani Uy was sitting at his house’s porch around 6 p.m. Wednesday when the unidentified men hurled the grenade.

The attempt on Uy’s life came after Rosary Heights village chair Amil Sula cheated death during an ambush on Wednesday morning, not Tuesday as earlier reported. His driver and a relative were killed while Sula and five other members of his family were injured.

As police were investigating the Uy assassination attempt, an IED fashioned out from a mortar shell and was designed to be remotely detonated was found near police precinct 2 along Don Ramon Rabago St here.

The IED went off while a bomb sniffing dog was checking on it, Martinez said.

The K-9 was slightly hurt and was being treated by a veterinarian, he added.

In Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat province, three persons were also injured when a bomb went off around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Senior Supt. Rolen Balquin, Sultan Kudarat police director, said the victims were passing through a road in downtown Tacurong when the explosion took place.

Balquin said the police were still investigating the explosion.