Village chief hurt in grenade attack

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – A village chief was wounded when an unidentified man fired a 40-millimeter grenade at his home in Pikit town on Saturday.

Mantol Mustapha was rushed to a hospital for treatment by responding police officers.

Lt. Col. Odie Edralin, chief of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion, said the victim was resting when the incident occurred at around 6 p.m.

Chief Inspector Sindatu Karim, town police chief, said investigators have yet to identify the assailant.

The blast, the second in Pikit in two months, damaged the windows and walls of Mustapha’s house.

Last October, motorcycle-riding men fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a chapel of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines, killing two worshipers and wounding three others.