5 hurt in Zambo City blast

ZAMBOANGA CITY , Philippines   â€“ Four senior citizens and a woman passer-by sustained injuries yesterday morning in a grenade blast that hit an abandoned church in a village here previously occupied by Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels, authorities said.

Chief Inspector Felixberto Martinez, Station 6 commander, said the explosion occurred at 9:35 a.m. yesterday at the old San Isidro Labrador church in Barangay Talon-Talon where senior citizens gather for their regular monthly meeting.

Martinez and Talon-Talon chairman Teodyver Arquiza, who rushed to the scene, quoted witnesses as saying that two motorcycle-riding men were seen speeding away after lobbing the grenade.

Arquiza identified those wounded as Pablito Moarez, Leonardo Sitiol, Ivan and Felicita Tarro, and Guendelyn Gande, who were all declared in stable condition.

Police were still clueless on the motive behind the grenade attack. Arquiza though said that personal grudge was unlikely the motive since most of the victims were senior citizens.

Arquiza said the grenade throwers perhaps “wanted to send a message to us because there have been reported sightings of armed men in the mangrove in the past days which prompted us to heighten the alert.”

Armed followers of MNLF founder Nur Misuari occupied Talon-Talon, among other villages here, when they lay siege in September last year.

Col. Andrelino Colina, Task Force Zamboanga chief, said a detachment was set up in Layag-Layag, a mangrove area in the coastal part of Talon-Talon, to allay the fear of residents that another siege could happen with the reported sighting of armed men there.