Dilangalen house bombed

COTABATO CITY , Philippines   — Unidentified attackers bombed the house of Maguindanao First District Rep. Didagen Dilangalen past 7 p.m on Sunday, the second bombing in Central Mindanao in three days.

Cotabato police spokesman Chief Inspector Willie Kasuyo said the attackers tossed a fragmentation hand grenade onto the roof of Dilangalen’s house. The grenade bounced off the roof and landed near the fence where it went off.

Kasuyo said no one was killed or injured in the blast. The explosion, however, caused panic in the neighborhood.

The lawmaker and his family were out of town at the time of the attack.

The blast left a big hole in the concrete fence enclosing the yard. Fragments of concrete hit nearby stores and houses.

“The ground shook and there was thick black smoke that billowed above the site where the grenade exploded,” said tricycle driver Mundas Macapudi.

Dilangalen is seeking re-election while his wife, Zeny, is running for mayor of Cotabato City.

Kasuyo said investigators are still determining if the attack on the lawmaker’s house was politically motivated.

The attack was carried out two days after an improvised bomb exploded under a parked hauler truck at the town of Carmen, North Cotabato. 

Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said no one was killed or injured in the blast, but the explosion destroyed the truck and caused panic among residents.

“It appears the IED (improvised explosive device) was to be exploded on Christmas Day but maybe it malfunctioned and went off late, or the bombers backed out from setting it off because there was heavy presence of soldiers in the area,” Ponce said.

North Cotabato provincial police director Senior Superintendent Norberto Batislaong said bomb experts are still determining the type of explosive used in the Carmen town attack.

Ponce said the bombing could be the handiwork of the al-Khobar extortion group operating in North Cotabato.