Cotabato City bus terminal rocked by grenade blast

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A live hand grenade was lobbed into a bus terminal in Cotabato City Saturday evening. None of the commuters were injured by the explosion, which damaged three buses.

The incident occurred at approximately 7 p.m. on January 24, at the Old Weena bus terminal located on Don Rufino Alonzo St., Poblacion 5 in Cotabato City.

An investigation carried out by the Explosive Ordinance and Disposal Team of the Philippine National Police (PNP) revealed that the MK2 fragmentation hand grenade was thrown by two unidentified suspects on board a motorcycle into a vacant lot towards the back of the terminal.

Cotabato City PNP Chief of Police, Police Senior Superintendent Rolen Balquin added that the two men sped off after hurling the explosive; adding that all police units have been alerted to intercept the suspects.

“As of now we cannot speculate pa kung galing lang ba ito sa loob ng city o nanggaling ba sa mga karatig bayan ang perpetrator (As of now we still cannot speculate if the perpetrators are from within the city or from neighboring towns.),” Balquin pointed out.

Security in the area has been placed on a maximum alert level.