ISABELA CITY, Basilan — Police authorities are conducting an in-depth probe to unmask the culprits behind the separate explosion incidents on the property of a government official in this province.
This, as a fragmentation grenade exploded at around 7:30 p.m. Monday at the warehouse of Soler Undug located at Purok 4, Barangay Aguada, this city.
The incident on Monday night was the third since February this year that transpired on the property of Undug, the Basilan district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (DPWH-ARMM).
Supt. Restituto Pangusban, local police chief, reported that no one was either killed or wounded in Monday’s incident except for minor damage on the roof of the warehouse.
Pangusban said the post-blast investigation showed it was a fragmentation grenade that exploded based on the safety lever and fragments recovered at the blast site.
He said the grenade was tossed by the suspects into the warehouse and hurriedly left the place.
“A deeper investigation is still being conducted (over the incident),” he stated in his report to the Police Regional Office (PRO 9) in Zamboanga City.
In the evening of February 1, a cellular phone-triggered pipe bomb exploded and partially damaged the perimeter fence of Undug’s residence at Purok Yakal, Barangay San Rafael, this city.
No one was either killed or injured in the explosion.
In the morning of March 21, a cellular phone-triggered ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO) pipe bomb was recovered at the warehouse of Undug at Purok 4, Barangay Aguada, this city.
The improvised bomb was rigged with several one-inch concrete and common nails as shrapnel.
ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman on Tuesday told the Philippine News Agency that most likely the motive was extortion since Undug oversees the implementation of millions of pesos worth of infrastructure projects in this province.
But Hataman said he is not inclined to believe that the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members were behind the series of incidents on the properties of Undug.
“They have to pass several checkpoints in going to this city just to toss a grenade in a warehouse,” he said. (PNA)
