Sunday, May 8, 2016

Army, police hunt down suspects in Maguindanao twin grenade attacks

From the Philippine News Agency (May 8): Army, police hunt down suspects in Maguindanao twin grenade attacks

Police and military authorities deployed for poll duties in Maguindanao are now hunting down the persons responsible in rifle grenade attacks in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao that killed a nine-year old girl and hurt her parents and siblings Saturday night.

"We are helping the local police of Shariff Aguak in tracking down the suspects," Capt. Joann Petinglay, 6th Infantry Division spokespeson, said.

"We cannot say if it was election related, we are investigating," she told the Philippine News Agency.

Two blasts rocked Shariff Aguak town, home of the Ampatuan clan during the last day of campaign period Saturday.

Shariff Aguak, one of the towns considered by the Commission on Elections as possible “area of immediate concern" for Monday’s polls, was the former capital of Maguindanao.

The first blast believed to be from rifle grenade occurred at past 7:30 p.m. and nobody was hurt. The second came at past 12 midnight when the residents were already asleep.

Petinglay identified the fatality as 9-year-old Puti Mandigan who was killed on the spot. Injured were her father Wahid, 38, mother Bae, 37 and siblings Arabai, 7 and another unidentified brother.

Responding police and military infantrymen rushed the victims to the Maguindanao provincial hospital.

Scene of the Crime Operatives and Army bomb experts found fragments of M-203 rifle grenade and M-79 grenade at the blast sites.

Political rivalry has been intense in Shariff Aguak where Sajid Ampatuan, the son of former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr, is running for town mayor against a relative.

Ampatuan, one of the accused in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, was out on bail.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=883394

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