2 kids die, 8 hurt in Kudarat blast

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Two children were killed while eight other people were wounded when a fragmentation grenade exploded in a crowded Muslim neighborhood in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat Monday night.

This developed as six Army soldiers were killed and three others were wounded when they were ambushed by a combined group of Moro and communist guerrillas in Kiblawan, Davao del Sur last Monday, the military said.

Camp Aguinaldo officials said the ambush confirmed earlier reports of a tactical alliance between the two rebel groups.

Senior Superintendent Agapito Salvador, Sultan Kudarat police director, said the explosion, the second in the area in 24 hours, happened at about 7:15 p.m. in front of the house of the Sambalani family in Purok Masagana, Barangay Kalawag II.

The area is just at the back of Camp Amando Dumalo, the former headquarters of the Region 12 police, and the engineering department of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ Sultan Kudarat District Office.

Two Sambalani children — Fairuds, 6, and Kenneth, 3 — died instantly due to multiple shrapnel wounds. Their mother, Norlita, 23, is in critical condition at the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Hospital.

Kamarudin Noor, 20; Paredo Tato, 20; Sainudin Lagyunon, 21; and Ali Dipatuan, 21, were treated at the provincial hospital and have been declared out of danger.

The three other victims were still unidentified. They were brought to the Isulan Medical Specialist’s Hospital.

Boy Sambalani, a tricycle driver, told reporters that his wife and children were waiting for him in front of their house when the explosion happened.

He quoted witnesses as saying that the grenade initially landed on the roof of the house of a certain Saniya Camsa, but it rolled down toward his residence.

Most of the victims, he said, were having dinner when the explosion occurred.

Sambalani believes the target of the bombers could be one of the Camsas who has been linked to drug-related incidents in the area.

He also dismissed any possibility that the bombers could be holding a grudge against him or his family.

Salvador said they found the pin of the grenade near a bamboo tree on the other side of a creek.

He said they were still determining whether the incident could be related to Sunday night’s explosion near the municipal police headquarters and the mayor’s office. A student was injured in the blast.

Salvador said the bomb, made of an 81-mm. mortar shell covered with metal shreds and with a timing device, was of the same type used in bombings in General Santos City and North Cotabato since May.

Sunday night’s explosion, which came exactly a week after two M-79 rifle grenades were fired at a swine farm and a public market, has been blamed on the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Prior to the incident, Salvador said they received intelligence information that the MILF was stepping up its attacks in urban centers in a show of force in anticipation of the possible resumption of peace talks with the government.

Meanwhile, Sultan Kudarat Gov. Datu Pakung Manguda-datu instructed the police and military to determine the motive behind the bombings and arrest their perpetrators.

Mangudadatu, the first Muslim governor elected in the province, fears the incidents might escalate into a Muslim-Christian feud.

"I have ordered our law enforcers to carefully look into these (incidents) because the victims were all Muslims," he said. — With John Unson and Paolo Romero