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)

Police File Charges Vs Grenade Thrower In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 16, 2008) – Philippine police filed criminal charges against a man linked to a grenade attack that killed three people in the southern province of Compostela Valley.

Police tagged Joel Avila, a tricycle driver, as behind the July 3 attack that also wounded 12 people in Nabunturan town. It said witnesses positively identified Avila as the attacker.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group said it filed criminal charges on Tuesday, but Avila remains at-large and that policemen were tracking him down. It said the attack was connected to a quarrel between two groups of tricycle drivers operating in the town.

The Philippine military earlier implicated the New People’s Army rebels as behind the grenade attack. “It was the handiwork of the New People's Army rebels,” Captain Michael Aquino, of the 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner. "We have reports saying that the attack targeted the 'habal-habal' drivers in the area because the NPA suspected them as government spies."

Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel spokesman, denied involvement of the NPA in the blast. “There is no tinge of truth to this. The enemy is just manufacturing stories to divert attention from the successive and successful tactical offensives by the NPA. The revolutionary forces condemn this criminal attack against civilians,” he said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

The NPA is fighting the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. Rebel leaders broke off peace talk with the Arroyo government in 2004 after accusing Manila of reneging on its commitment to free all political prisoners and to put a stop to political killings, among others. (Romy Bwaga)

Grenade Blast Injures Boy In Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 06, 2008) – A grenade attack in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga wounded a boy and the rising criminalities here are worrying traders and government officials.

The blast occurred in the village of Ayala and police is investigating the motive of the attack late Monday afternoon. A spate of gun attacks and extra-judicial killings since last month have worried officials.

On Monday, an unidentified motorcycle gunman shot a shipping employee in the head as his vehicle slowed down on a stop light near downtown Zamboanga.

A lawyer was also shot in the head inside a church during a mass, sending worshipers scampering for safety. Just last week, a university professor was also gunned down by unidentified assailants near him house and previous killings remain unsolved.

And all these killings occurred despite a total gun ban in Zamboanga City, but many hired killers also operate here and this is aggravated by threats of terrorism and kidnappings.

Last month, two homemade bombs were detonated at a Catholic cathedral and a commercial building here. Police blamed the Abu Sayyaf group and the separatist rebel, Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The United States, Canada, Australia and Britain had previously warned their citizens not to travel to Zamboanga and other parts of Mindanao because of threats of terrorism.

Mayor Celso Lobregat has assured the public that Zamboanga City is safe and police said the killings were “isolated cases” and mostly triggered by feud. (Mindanao Examiner)

Blast Kills 1, Injures 2 In Sulu Province

A government soldier, Marine Sgt. Cyril Padenilla, 32, wounded in a grenade blast Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007 lies unconscious at the Sulu Provincial Hospital. A woman, Janet Mansog, 32, is also wounded in the blast that killed a military informant, Arnold Cataylo. (Mindanao Examiner Photo/Nickee Butlangan)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 16, 2007) – One person was killed and three others wounded, including a government soldier, when a grenade exploded late Sunday in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, police said.

Police said the killed man, Arnold Cataylo, 25, was toying with the grenade when it exploded in the village of San Raymundo in Jolo town.

A soldier, Sgt. Cyril Padenilla, 32, assigned with the Philippine Marines, and a woman, Janet Mansog, 32, were wounded in the blast at around 8.30 p.m.

Police said Cataylo was instantly killed while the wounded were rushed to the Sulu provincial hospital.

Superintendent Hakam Pae, the acting provincial police chief, said the victims were apparently drunk. It was not immediately known who owned the grenade, but Cataylo was allegedly a military informant.

Two other women identified only on their first names, Marimar and Gemma, who were with the group fled after the explosion, Pae said.

“We are still investigating the case. Policemen recovered two automatic pistols near the blast site,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Policemen were searching for the two women to shed light on the investigations. Pae said the blast was an isolated incident.

Liquor and wines are strictly prohibited in the largely Muslim province, but some convenience stores still sell them mostly to Christian soldiers stationed in the province, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.

Bars and karaoke clubs run by Christians also sprouted near military bases in Jolo.

(Nickee Butlangan)

Boy Seriously Injured In Grenade Blast In South RP

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 17 Mar) – An eight-year old boy was injured after a rifle grenade he toying exploded in the southern Philippines, authorities said.

It said Francisco Banzala, found the explosive near their house in the farming village of Calangan in North Cotabato’s Pikit town on Thursday.

Thinking it was a toy, the boy tried to detach the grenade’s head by hitting it with a rock until it suddenly exploded. Police said the grenade was similar to those use in M79 rifle.

The boy is in critical condition at the Cobatato Provincial Hospital. Police said it is still investigating the incident.

It was unknown where the grenade came from. (Romy Bwaga)

2 Grenades Explode In Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 13 Mar) – Police tightened security in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines following two separate grenade attacks.

Police said there were no casualties in the explosions that occurred in the coastal villages of Mampang and Arena Blanco.

The explosion in Mampang before dawn Tuesday damaged the house of a former government soldier. “I don’t know who was behind the attack. We are requesting our policemen to patrol our village more often,” the soldier said.

A similar explosion was earlier reported near a warehouse in the village of Arena Blanco.

Police have put up random checkpoints in Zamboanga City, which have been previously bombed by the militant Abu Sayyaf group. It was unknown whether the two explosions were connected or not. (Mindanao Examiner)

2 Killed, 7 Wounded In Zamboanga City Blast

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 31 Oct) – A grenade explosion had killed two people and injured 7 more in the troubled southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga, police and military reports said.

Reports said an ex-Marine soldier, Ben Rivera, detonated the grenade inside a billiard hall near Putik village and were among those wounded in the blast late Monday.

Police said the man was seen arguing with several people before he allegedly pulled the grenade and detonated inside the jam-packed hall.

The military said the blast was not connected to terrorism and that the police are still investigating the incident.

More than a dozen people, mostly policemen and soldiers, had been killed in a series of gun attacks blamed to the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in Zamboanga City the past weeks.

Zamboanga City had been previously bombed by the Abu Sayyaf and was tagged as behind the spate of kidnappings mostly for ransom.(With a report from Uly Israel)