3 people wounded in Zamboanga blast

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / April 9, 2010) – Three people were injured in a grenade attack in Zamboanga Sibugay province in the southern Philippines, officials said Friday.

Officials said the grenade exploded late Thursday outside the house of a police officer in Kabasalan town, several kilometers from Titay where two improvised bombs were detonated earlier near the house of George Castillo, a mayoralty candidate of the ruling coalition; and at a village hall in nearby Titay town.

The grenade attack occurred 30 minutes after two improvised explosives went off, although there were no reports of casualties in the bombings.

It was unknown if the three attacks were connected.

“The attacks are being investigated by the police,” said Army First Lieutenant Steffani Cacho, a regional military spokeswoman.

On Monday, a grenade attack wounded one person outside a radio station in Titay town owned by Zamboanga Sibugay governor George Hofer, an ally of Castillo. The facility is just several meters away from Hofer’s house.

Hofer, who is on his third and last term, is running for mayor in the town of Ipil, while his daughter, Dulce Ann Hofer, the congresswoman of Zamboanga Sibugay, is running for governor in the province. His son Jet Hofer is also running for a congressional seat.

No group or individual claimed responsibility for the spate of attacks.

A local newspaper, Sibugay Express, quoted the radio station manager Kim Porras as saying the attack could be retaliation for the political commentaries of freelance broadcasters. Porras, himself, is also receiving subtle threats though text messages warning him to take it slowly, it said.

The explosion occurred minutes after Porras’ radio program ended, but it was unknown whether he was the target of the attack or the Hofers, who held a grip in the province’s political power for many years now. (Mindanao Examiner)

2 killed, 15 wounded in South RP grenade blast

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 17, 2009) – Two villagers were killed and more than a dozen injured in a grenade attack in the southern Filipino province of Sulu, the military said on Thursday.

It said the explosion occurred shortly before midnight Wednesday at a carnival on a village called Tubig Puti in the town of Luuk.

“Two civilians were killed and 15 are wounded in the explosion. They were hit by shrapnel,” said Major Ramon David Hontiveros, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command.

He said authorities are still investigating the motive of the attack. No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group is actively operating in the area. Clan war is also common in Sulu.

On Monday night, an explosion also rocked the port of Jolo in the province where US troops, escorted by a small team of Filipino soldiers, were unloading cargoes from a boat.

The soldiers, who panicked by the explosion, indiscriminately fired their weapons, hitting a mosque and several small buildings at the port.

US and Filipino troops involved in the shooting ignored investigations by the police and port authorities. The US troops previously closed down a hospital in the province on suspicion wounded rebels were being treated there.

American Special Forces are deployed in Sulu since 2006 and have been assisting the local military in defeating the Abu Sayyaf. (Mindanao Examiner)

Civilian wounded in Zamboanga grenade attack

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 30, 2009) – A grenade explosion injured a civilian in the southern Filipino port city of Zamboanga, police said.

Police said the attack occurred at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday in the coastal village called Mampang.

“This is a grenade throwing incident perpetrated by two men on a motorcycle,” said Senior Superintendent Amador Corpuz, the local police chief.

Corpuz said a 15-year old villager was wounded in the explosion. The motive of the attack was unknown, but police said the grenade was hurled at a house in the village.

No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack, police said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Twin blasts kill 1, injured 6 in southern Philippines

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1 killed, 32 wounded in twin grenade blasts in Mindanao

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5 injured in grenade blast in Southern RP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 1, 2008) – Five people were hurt when a rifle grenade exploded near a military base in the southern Philippine island of Sulu, police said on Thursday.

Police said the M79 grenade exploded on a road in the village of Liang in Patikul town, injuring a minor, two teenagers and two adults, all of them civilians.

“We are still investigating the incident. We don’t know who fired the M79 grenade, but the military claimed it was an improvised explosive device,” Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, the island’s police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner newspaper.

Kasim said there is an ongoing operation to collect illegal weapons in Sulu on orders from the island’s governor Sakur Tan.

Tan last year ordered police and military to arrest all civilians and politicians who own illegal weapons or maintain private armed gangs in an effort to rid Sulu of criminalities.

Kasim said the campaign is effective and has drastically reduced the proliferation of unlicensed firearms in Sulu.

But many illegal weapons are still in the hands of rebel groups, such as the Abu Sayyaf and the breakaway factions of the Moro National Liberation Front, which signed a peace agreement with Manila in 1996.

Security forces are battling the rebels in Sulu’s hinterlands where they usually seek cover from government offensives. The Abu Sayyaf is still holding a Chinese trader, Xili Wu, it seized in Sulu last month.

Authorities have tagged the Abu Sayyaf group as behind the spate of kidnappings and bomb attacks across Mindanao. The Abu Sayyaf, which means "The Bearer of the Sword," has been labeled a terrorist organization by both Manila and Washington, and is believed by the US to have links with the al-Qaeda terror network. (Mindanao Examiner)

New Year's Eve explosion leaves 22 people wounded in the southern Philippines

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 31, 2008) – More than two dozen people were injured in a grenade explosion on New Year’s Eve in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said the explosion occurred at a park in General Santos City late Wednesday and injured 22 people. But a local radio network, Radyo Agong, reported that at least 26 people were wounded in the attack at around 9.10 p.m.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the blast. A separate military report also said that a fragmentation grenade was used in the attack.

Army Captain Emmanuel Garcia, of the Task Force Gensan, said an unidentified man hurled the grenade to a crowd at the park. “At least 22 people are wounded in the grenade explosion and they have been rushed to hospitals,” he said.

He said authorities were investigating the motive of the attack, which occurred a day after a grenade explosion at a police post in General Santos City also left three people wounded, including a police officer.

An improvised bomb also exploded late Tuesday in a motorcycle taxi near a police checkpoint, killing its driver and wounding an officer in the village of Saliao in Sultan Kudarat's Esperanza town.

The improvised explosive, assembled from 81 millimeter mortar bomb, was inside a sack full of charcoal when it went off while the policeman was inspecting the vehicle. Officials said faulty bomb assembly had triggered the explosion. (Mindanao Examiner)

2 injured in Mindanao grenade attacks

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 26, 2008) – A series of grenade attacks injured two people and damaged several commuter buses in the southern Philippines, where government troops are fighting Moro rebels, officials said Friday.

Officials said two grenades exploded at bus depot in Cotabato City late Thursday, but there were no reports of casualties. “The blasts damaged several buses. There were no casualties,” Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

No group of individuals claimed responsibility for the attacks, but police have implicated two security guards formerly working with the bus firm called Husky. Ando said the attackers, who escaped on a motorcycle, used MK2 fragmentation grenades.

He said two men riding tandem on motorcycle also hurled a grenade and exploded near a roadside eatery in Tacurong City, wounding two people.

Ando said the attacks appeared to be unrelated, but they coincided with sporadic clashes between troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in Aleosan town in North Cotabato and Kalamansig town in Sultan Kudarat provinces.

He said there were no casualties in the fighting. “The rebels continue to attack our forces without provocation,” he said.

At least 11 people were killed in sporadic clashes between military and rebel forces since Wednesday in Mindanao, Ando said.

The MILF said one rebel was slain in the fighting, which it blamed to government soldiers. “Troops are attacking us and we are only defending ourselves,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said.

Peace talks between the MILF and the Arroyo government collapsed after the failed signing of the Muslim ancestral domain in August. The aborted signing triaged a series of deadly rebel attacks in Mindanao.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting the past three decades for a separate homeland in the troubled region. (Mindanao Examiner)

Grenade Explodes Inside Port Of Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 23, 2008) – A fragmentation grenade exploded late Saturday inside the port of Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, but police said there were no reports of casualties.

The grenade was hurled inside the compound of the Bureau of Customs, said Senior Superintendent Lurimer Detran, the chief of the local police force. “No one was hurt in the blast,” he said.

Police said an MK2 grenade was used in the attack. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the blast, but it was fourth grenade attack in a span of two weeks in Zamboanga City.

Nine people were wounded in an MK2 grenade attack outside the Marcian Business Hotel in downtown Zamboanga on August 20. A grenade was hurled inside the Cinema 5 at Mindpro Mall here on August 15, but it failed to explode.

An MK2 grenade was also used in the August 12 attack at the central police headquarters here, although no one was hurt or killed in the blast.

In June, four policemen were injured in a grenade attack at their base 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, but a bombing in May blamed to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front killed three people and injured more than a dozen others outside a military base here. (Mindanao Examiner)

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)

Zamboanga Police Base Attacked

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 13, 2008) – An unidentified man lobbed a fragmentation grenade at a police base in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, but officials on Wednesday said there were no casualties in the attack.

The attack late Tuesday damaged a car parked near the police base, said Senior Superintendent Lurimer Detran, the city police chief. “A man tossed the grenade, an MK4 grenade, at the police (base), at around 10.15 p.m. We are still investigating the motive of the attack,” he told reporters.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but police said it was probably connected to the local anti-crime campaign.

“This (attack) maybe connected to our job,” said Inspector Ibrahim Jambiran, commander of a police task force.

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, three people were reported killed and more than a dozen injured in a bomb attack in Zamboanga City that damaged the building that houses a military pension fund and an office of the US Agency for International Development.

Authorities had blamed Akiddin Abdusallam, a leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, as behind that bombing. He was killed weeks later by military agents in the province. (Mindanao Examiner)