Grenade attack wounds 24 in Cotabato state school

KIDAPAWAN, Philippines — A grenade attack wounded at least 24 people in a school campus in the southern Philippines, including government personnel, who were battling a fire, police said Monday.

Firefighters, disaster-response personnel and police were trying to control the fire in a bunkhouse of security guards at the state-run Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology late Sunday in Arakan town when somebody lobbed a grenade near a firetruck. The attacker escaped, police said.

Arakan police chief Inspector Rolly Oranza said a policeman, government firefighters, students and school guards were among those wounded with shrapnel and flying debris. They were taken to hospitals and two were in serious condition.

Investigators have not identified the attacker and were trying to determine if the fire was deliberately set to lure authorities before the powerful blast, Oranza said.

In November, police found a bomb made from a mortar round near the school's flagpole and main administrative building but it was not rigged to explode and apparently was set to scare people, he said.

Arakan, an agricultural town of 45,000 people in North Cotabato province, has relatively been quiet compared to nearby towns and provinces which have come under attack from Muslim insurgents in the past. Communist guerrillas, though, have a presence but it was not immediately clear if they played a role in Sunday's attack.