3 grenade blasts rock Maguindanao del Sur’s capital town

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A villager was hurt and a vehicle was damaged in three grenade explosions in Buluan, Maguindanao del Sur on Friday night, April 18.

Municipal officials in Buluan, the capital of Maguindanao del Sur, told reporters on Saturday, April 19, that the bombings, perpetrated by motorcycle-riding men, left the 31-year-old Jimmy Mamasalang Mibpande wounded.

The explosions triggered panic among residents in the town proper of Buluan, the capital town of Maguindanao del Sur.

Officials of the Buluan Municipal Police Station and the police director of Maguindanao del Sur, Col. Ryan Bobby Palomo, said the motorcycle-riding bombers had escaped amid the commotion triggered by the explosions.

One of the three grenades went off at the fenced Buluan municipal government center, damaging a Toyota Avanza parked inside.

Shrapnel fragments also hit the walls of establishments along the road where one of the grenades exploded.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said local executives, investigators from the Buluan police force and provincial police officials are cooperating in identifying the perpetrators of the grenade attacks.

The Commission on Elections placed Buluan under its control, via an en banc resolution last week, following a series of more than 10 deadly gun attacks in the municipality after the Comelec imposed on January 12 a nationwide gun ban, meant to ensure a safe electoral exercise throughout the country in May 2025.