Caretaker hurt in grenade attack on Mangudadatu kin's house

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines - A caretaker of a house owned by a younger brother of Sultan Kudarat Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu was injured in a grenade attack Sunday night in Koronadal City, causing panic among neighbors.

Witnesses told investigators that one of two men riding a motorcycle together hurled the grenade into the fenced yard of Naga Mangudadatu, at Barangay Santo Niño, and escaped just as the explosive went off.

The blast left 25-year-old Moktar Esmael wounded. He was rushed to a hospital for medication by responding policemen and barangay officials.

Relatives of the governor said the bombing could possibly be related to a land dispute involving Moro rebels and barangay officials in Bayasong in Sultan Kudarat’s Lutayan municipality, hometown and political bailiwick of the Mangudadatu clan.

Lutayan is located at the border of Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato, whose capital is Koronadal City.

The barangay officials and volunteer watchmen that clashed with the marauding Moro guerillas in early September in Lutayan are political supporters of the Mangudadatu family.