Cop hurt in Basilan police outpost bombing

COTABATO CITY — A bomber threw a fragmentation grenade at one side of a roadside police detachment in Barangay Sunrise, Isabela City, Basilan, late Sunday, September 29, injuring a policeman and causing tension among villagers in nearby houses.

In a report to the office of Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, the Basilan Provincial Police Office stated that Patrolman Aldimar Salahuddin, then on duty, sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of his body.

The governor of Basilan, Hadjiman Salliman, has condemned the bombing and offered an earnest reward for any information leading to the arrest of its perpetrators. 

“That is something we will not take sitting down. We are helping the police resolve that grenade attack," Salliman, chairman of the Basilan Provincial Peace and Order Council, said.

Rumors are circulating in Isabela City, a port city in Basilan, suggesting that two men are responsible for the recent atrocity. One of them acted as a look out, while the other threw the grenade beside the police checkpoint at an intersection in Barangay Sunrise. The duo escaped after a powerful explosion ripped through the surroundings.

Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of the Army’s 101st Brigade in Basilan, told reporters on Monday that personnel of their intelligence unit are helping gather information that could help put closure to the incident.