Cops hunt down 2 men in grenade attack on NGO offices

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 17): Cops hunt down 2 men in grenade attack on NGO offices

Police authorities here have identified the suspects who lobbed a hand grenade Tuesday night at offices of non government organizations working for displaced families in Maguindanao.

Senior Supt. Raul Supiter, Cotabato City police director, said two men riding tandem on a motorbike was captured by a CCTV camera of nearby establishment after they lobbed the grenade toward the office of Central Mindanao Youth Center and Mindanao Tulong Bakwit.

No casualty was reported in the 7:30 p.m. attack on two offices located along Anacleto Badoy Street, Barangay Poblacion 2, Cotabato City. But an ambulance, parked inside the compound, was slightly damaged.

"Nobody was in the two offices and the grenade landed at the parking lot," Supiter said. "As to the motive, our investigators are still gathering statements from officials of two NGOs," he said.

Scene of the Crime Operatives recovered the safety lever of MK-2 fragmentation grenade at the blast site.

Supiter said the two offices were managed by Fairuds Ibus and Anshari Guiabal Ibrahim.

Quoting police investigation report, Supiter said two men were seen by residents parked near the two offices as if waiting for something.

One of them lobbed the grenade and sped away.

Since 2008, Mindanao Tulong Bakwit has been in the forefront of providing relief aid to Muslim families displaced by armed hostilities in Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.

Police could not say if the grenade attack was in any way connected to the on-going skirmishes between government forces and outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao towns.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=857831