Man killed, 3 hurt in Cotabato grenade blast

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A tricycle driver was killed while three others were wounded in a grenade attack here Sunday night, the second in just one week.

Al-Masri Amirul, 18, died from shrapnel wounds in different parts of the body.

Albert Villarete, 39; Reynaldo Tagayan, 42; and Legaspi Banguis, 56, were confined at a local hospital.

The victims were standing on a busy street in Barangay Rosary Heights 6 here when one of two men on a motorcycle hurled a fragmentation grenade while shouting “Happy New Year!” and sped away.

Investigators are still clueless on the identities of the suspects and the motive for the attack.

Last week, a former barangay kagawad was wounded when unidentified men on a motorcycle hurled a grenade at a house along Don E. Sero street.

Army bomb experts also defused an improvised explosive device found near the Rosary Heights police precinct here early this week.