Cops kill one, nab another over Tacurong City attacks

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  --- Policemen gunned down a suspect in a grenade attack on a mayor’s house and arrested another in Tacurong City Thursday night, a day after three residents were injured in a powerful blast at a commercial district in the area.

Supt. Junny Buenacosa, chief of the Tacurong police, said the arrested suspect, who introduced himself as Nasser Abdullah, is now undergoing interrogation.

“He’s not cooperating. He’s trying to mislead investigators by giving inconsistent answers to inquiries on his exact identity and other details pertaining to his persona,” Buenacosa said.

Abdullah was cornered by Buenacosa and his men while suspiciously fleeing from the vicinity of the house in Tacurong City Emilio Salamanca, re-electionist mayor of nearby President Quirino town Sultan Kudarat, where suspects set off a fragmentation grenade.

Two of Salamanca’s security escorts, Junter Escalina, and Nilo Malcontento, were injured in the explosion and are now undergoing medication at a local hospital.

Pursuing policemen were forced to shoot and kill Abdullah’s still unidentified companion, who tried to stop them from closing in by blasting another fragmentation grenade. None of the policemen chasing him were hurt in the explosion.

“There were two explosions, one was at the immediate periphery of the residence of Mayor Salamanca, the other apparently meant to kill or maim pursuing members of the Tacurong City police,” Buenacosa said.

Salamanca is convinced the bombing of his residential yard along Malvar Street in Tacurong City was politically motivated, the second since he filed his candidacy for a second mayoral term.

Unidentified gunmen shelled his yard last November 18 with 40 MM grenade projectiles fired from a distance using either an M-203 rifle, or a vintage launcher.

The grenade attack Thursday night on Salamanca’s house came a day after three Tacurong City residents --- Christian Cabangon, 36; James Salinda, 26; and Jessa Marcelo, 23 --- were injured when an improvised explosive device went off near a roadside branch of a money transfer outfit.

Buenacosa said investigators are still trying to determine the identities of the bombers and their motive for the attack.