Another grenade blast rocks Zambo

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Another grenade explosion rocked this city shortly after nightfall Saturday at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) building inside the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) complex, according to security officials.

Port police chief Maj. Frank Clavesilla said the grenade was hurled from outside the concrete fence surrounding the wharf, hitting the BOC building.

Clavesilla said the grenade exploded at around 6:30 p.m. but no one was reported hurt as most of the people had left the premises.

“We still cannot determine if the target (was) really the (BOC) because the attack was perpetrated when there was nobody around,” he said.

The explosion was the second grenade attack that hit this port city in the past four nights. Nine people were injured in the first attack, when a grenade exploded in front of a downtown hotel.

Superintendent Jose Bayani Gucela, chief of the regional police Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit, said they recovered a lever and identified the explosive to be an MK2 grenade, similar to the grenade used in the first explosion.

Gucela, however, could not say if the attacks were related.

Police are trying to determine if the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which threatened to launch attacks in other areas to divert military attention from Central Mindanao, was responsible for the explosions.