2 hurt in N. Cotabato grenade blast

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Two Moro villagers were injured Monday night in a grenade blast that ripped through a quiet farming enclave in Barangay Pagangan in Aleosan town, police said Tuesday.

Senior Inspector Nilo Cotones, chief of the Aleosan town police, identified the victims as Abu Baida Mamangkog and Jeffrey Nawal, of Sitio Bliss in Barangay Pagangan, a predominantly Moro area in the northeast of the municipality.

Cotones said one of two men riding together a motorcycle that pulled over along a highway straddling through Sitio Bliss hurled a fragmentation grenade at one of the houses in the area and hurriedly sped away.

“Investigators are still trying to identify the suspects and their real motive for the grenade attack,” Cotones said.

The bombing caused panic among villagers in Sitio Bliss.