COTABATO CITY, Philippines --- The police and military threw tight security around the Kabacan town in North Cotabato following Thursday night’s grenade attack on the residential compound of a re-electionist municipal councilor.
Councilor George Manuel and members of his family survived the bombing unhurt.
The Kabacan municipal police is still investigating on the incident.
Witnesses told investigators they saw one of two men riding a motorcycle together that pulled over at Manuel’s front yard toss a fragmentation grenade at the entrance of the councilor’s house and sped away.
The blast triggered panic in the surroundings.
The Army’s 602nd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over Kabacan and surrounding towns, has dispatched intelligence agents to help the local police determine the identities of the motorcycle-riding bombers.
The incident was preceded by bomb explosion in Guindulungan, Maguindanao past 6:00 a.m. Thursday that killed a barangay chairman in the same municipality.
The fatality, Salindatu Rajahmuda, chairman of Barangay Macasampen, had just emerged from a roadside eatery, along with his son, when the improvised explosive device planted by still unidentified bombers several meters away went off.
Macasampen, who sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of his body, succumbed while undergoing treatment at a hospital.