COTABATO CITY – Two people riding a motorcycle injured 22 people, including children, after a grenade attack in Barangay Dalapitan, Matalam town, Cotabato, at midnight on Wednesday.
Matalam police chief Lt. Col. Arniel C. Melocotones and local officials separately told reporters Thursday morning that one of the two men riding a motorcycle threw a fragmentation grenade at the victims, then lit firecrackers and fireworks on a highway in Sitio Ipil-Ipil in Barangay Dalapitan and immediately fled.
Barangay officials and police investigators who responded to the incident said the grenade explosion injured 22 people in the area, including grade school children.
The incident caused panic among the villagers in Barangay Dalapitan.
The victims, who were hit by shrapnel in various parts of their bodies, were immediately taken by policemen and emergency responders from Matalam local government unit to various hospitals for treatment.
Governor Emmylou Talino-Mendoza, chairman of the multi-sector Cotabato Provincial Peace and Order Council, condemned the bombing and urged local officials in Matalam and residents of Barangay Dalapitan to help the police identify its perpetrators.
“Our provincial government will provide the victims with the necessary assistance to treat their injuries,” Ms. Mendoza said.
Brig. Gen. Arnold P. Ardiente, director of Police Regional Office 12, said Mr. Melokotones and his subordinate at the Matalam Municipal Police Station, intelligence agents from the Cotabato Provincial Police Office and local officials are cooperating to identify the two men behind the bombing for prosecution.
Army Brigadier. Gen. Ricky P. Buñayog, commander of the 602ndRa Infantry Brigade, and his superior, Major General José Vladimir R. Cagaray, commander of the 6thth Separately, the Infantry Division said plainclothes personnel from their intelligence units in the province were helping police contain the incident. – John Felix M. Anson