‘Empty’ grenade lobbed at police station

MANILA, Philippines - A grenade was lobbed at a police station of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) before dawn yesterday, breaking a portion of the station’s glass door but hurting no one as it failed to explode.

An MK2 fragmentation grenade was hurled at the QCPD Station 5 in Fairview just before 3 a.m., said QCPD director Senior Superintendent Richard Albano.

Superintendent Eleazar Matta, commander of the Fairview police station, said none of the police officers on duty were hurt. He said they are scouring the neighborhood to check recordings of closed-circuit television cameras in the area.

Senior Police Officer 3 Christopher Marquez of the Explosives and Ordnance (EOD) Division said the grenade did not explode as the secondary pin was still attached.

Subsequent analysis showed that the grenade was real but was unserviceable as its explosive content was removed, said EOD chief Inspector Noel Sublay.

Sublay said the grenade may have been thrown at the station to cause panic. He said it was lobbed by two unidentified men riding a motorcycle.

Marquez said they could not trace the source of the explosive as its lot number was erased. He said such grenades could damage an area of up to 20 feet in radius.