Police investigators here are looking at three angles that
possibly led to the grenade throwing incident that claimed the life of a
6-year-old boy and wounded 40 others on Sunday night, police said.
The 8:20 p.m. blast occurred at a local carnival located at
the back of the town hall and police station as part of the patronal fiesta
celebration of Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat.
According to Bernardino, the grenade attack could have been
triggered by a personal grudge between the suspects and the unidentified
carnival operator.
Second, the suspects could be at odds with someone or a
group of people who were among the crowd in the carnival at the time of the
attack.
"We are also looking at possible involvement of
BIFF," Bernardino said, referring to lawless Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom
Fighters (BIFF) in nearby Maguindanao.
Earlier, the military has warned of BIFF diversionary
tactics by bombing civilians places in Maguindanao, North
Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat to ease pressures from Army air and
ground assaults in Datu Salibo.
Roadside bombings attributed by the military to BIFF have
hit highways Talayan and Guindulungan towns in Maguindanao and Pikit and
Aleosan in North Cotabato .
Bernardino said witnesses told investigators that two or
three men simultaneously tossed MK-2 grenades toward the middle of the festival
filled with gamblers and on-lookers, including minors.
The suspects then fled on motorbikes. But one of the them
alighted few meters away and returned to the blast site as pandemonium broke
loose.
He was arrested by responding police officers after
witnesses pointed to him as among the attackers. Bernardino said the arrested
suspect is now undergoing investigation.
Elton John Antonio, the lone fatality, was eating “balut”
very close the blast site. He expired while getting medical attention at the
hospital. A shrapnel hit his head, the Philippine National Red Cross said.
Army brigade commander Colonel Lito Sobejana, 601st Infantry
Brigade chief, said soldiers had been assisting the local police in identifying
and hunting the suspects.
One of the 40 wounded carnival guests was in critical
condition at a local hospital.
Of the injured, about 20 remained in four hospitals.
Esperanza town Mayor Helen Latog condemned the grenade
attack. "It was a cowardly act of lawless elements, the victims were all
innocents," she said.
She has convened the Municipal Peace and Order Council
Monday morning to assess the town’s peace and order situation.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=859598
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