2 hurt in Maguindanao del Sur grenade blasts

COTABATO CITY — Two individuals, including a four-year-old child, were wounded when gunmen fired 40-millimeter grenade projectiles at houses in Barangay Poblacion, Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur, on Saturday night, June 21.

Officials from the Shariff Aguak Municipal Police Station and Mayor Akmad Ampatuan separately told reporters on Sunday, June 22, that the victims were inside a house where one of the grenade projectiles, fired from a distance by armed men, landed and exploded.

Witnesses told the policemen and soldiers who responded to the incident that the perpetrators used M79 grenade launchers and M203 rifles to fire explosive projectiles from a distance at the targeted houses.

Shariff Aguak Vice Mayor Hadji Oping Ampatuan said the culprits managed to escape before responding policemen and soldiers arrived at the sites where the grenade projectiles had exploded.

Officials of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade and the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office are working together to identify the group behind the grenade attacks that caused panic among residents of Barangay Poblacion in Shariff Aguak.