|
|
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Domestic quarrel in Cotabato City leads to deadly blast (9:59 am)
COTABATO -- A quarrel between a man and his wife appeared to have caused a deadly explosion in Cotabato City that left at least three people dead and 17 wounded, police said Tuesday.
Hamsa Maulana, allegedly placed a grenade in his wife Snooky Maulana's handbag, leading to the blast in a busy street in this city late Monday, Chief Inspector Ramonito Pacheco said.
The couple is being questioned over the explosion that initially triggered fears of a terrorist attack in southern Mindanao.
Witnesses, including some of the wounded, had identified the duo as the ones who had the grenade before it went off.
The military said three people were killed and 17 wounded when the grenade, which was hidden in a bag, went off.
Snooky Maulana had reportedly been screaming that a grenade had been placed in her handbag just before she threw it to the street.
The device exploded, killing and injuring mostly sidewalk vendors.
The cause of the quarrel between the couple has not been disclosed.
In previous years, bomb blasts in southern Mindanao have largely been blamed on Muslim separatists. However the main separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) swiftly denied any hand in this incident. AFP
Want Sun.Star news on your mobile phone? Click here.
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here.
|
|
|
|
