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Saturday, August 18, 2007
Grenade explosions hurt 11 in Cotabato
By Malu Cadelina Manar
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Eleven people were injured in three separate grenade explosions that rocked a residential area in Cotabato City and a North Cotabato town on Thursday.
The suspect, identified as Christopher Musota, 26, resident of Barangay Gambudes, Arakan, was immediately arrested a few minutes after he allegedly lobbed a fragmentation grenade at a group of residents celebrating a village fiesta at around 4:30 p.m.
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Nine people, most of them males, were wounded during the blast.
The suspect tried to toss another grenade but somebody from the group attempted to stop him causing the explosive to get thrown into a fishpond, reports said.
North Cotabato police spokesman Joyce Birrey said Musota had a heated altercation with a group of merrymakers while having a drinking session with them outside the village hall.
Musota was irked by one of the remarks of his companions and warned them he would bomb the place. A few hours later, he went back carrying two fragmentation grenades.
Authorities have yet to find out how Musota was able to acquire the explosives.
"He is just an ordinary guy. He's not even a soldier or whatever. We'll find out how and why," Birrey said.
Most of the injured were rushed to the North Cotabato provincial hospital in Barangay Amas.
In Cotabato City, a policeman and his wife were wounded when a still unidentified person threw a grenade at their home Thursday morning.
Injured were SPO1 Julius Perez and his wife, Gemma.
Senior Inspector Wally Kasuyo, spokesman of the Cotabato City police, said the unidentified person hurled the explosive through an open window in the couple's house where they were having siesta.
Authorities recovered fragments of a Russian-made fragmentation grenade from the crime scene. (Sun.Star General Santos/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (August 18, 2007 issue)
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2 brods killed, mother injured