7 Wounded In Zamboanga City Blast

Government soldiers guard downtown Zamboanga City in southern Philippines on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 after a grenade attack left 7 people wounded. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 20, 2008) – At least seven people were wounded in a grenade attack late Wednesday in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said the blast occurred at around 7 p.m. near the Marcian Business Hotel in downtown Zamboanga City.

“Seven people are injured in the blast,” said Senior Superintendent Lurimer Detran, the city police chief.

Detran said an MK2 fragmentation grenade was used in the attack. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, he said. “We still do not know the motive of the attack,” he said.

Army Colonel Santiago Baluyot, commander of an anti-terror task force, said a man on motorcycle tossed the grenade and fled. “We have tightened security here. We don’t want a repeat of this attack,” he said.

Last week, the headquarters of the local police force was also attacked, although no one was hurt in the grenade blast.Police have also recovered August 15 a fragmentation grenade inside a local cinema after it failed to explode.

Four policemen were also wounded in a similar attack blamed on Muslim rebels on June 20 in the town of Kabasalan in Zamboanga Sibugay province, about 120 kilometers from Zamboanga City.

Zamboanga City has been previously attacked by Abu Sayyaf militants tied to al-Qaeda. It was not immediately known if the group was connected to the latest attack.

In May, a homemade bomb explosion ripped through a two-storey building near a military base in Zamboanga City killing three people and wounding more than a dozen others. Authorities blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the bombing. (Mindanao Examiner)