Grenade blast rocks ex-Comelec chairman’s house

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A grenade explosion ripped through the residence of former Commission on Elections chairman Sheriff Abbas in this city early yesterday, causing panic among his family members and villagers.

Police have yet to identify two motorcycle-riding men who reportedly hurled a grenade in front of Abbas’ house along Narra street in Barangay Rosary Heights 3.

Probers and police ordnance experts collected fragments of the grenade.

There were no reported casualties, but the explosion damaged parts of the house.

The blast also damaged the windshield of a vehicle parked in front of the house.

Probers recovered a safety lever from a grenade at the scene.

Shortly after the grenade attack, the chief of the general services office of the city government, Pedro Tato Jr., and his driver were wounded in an ambush.

The two were waylaid near the compound of the Cotabato Regional Medical Center.

The gunmen fled on a motorcycle.

Investigation into the attacks are ongoing.