Blast rocks Maguindanao village a day before Mamasapano carnage 6th month anniv

MAMASAPANO, Maguindanao (July 24)- A day before the6th month anniversary of the bloody Mamasapano carnage, tension has gripped the village of Tukanalipao after a rifle grenade fired from nowhere landed near a house Thursday night.Norodin Madsig, farmer and resident of Barangay Tukanalipao, said the rifle grenade landed and went off about 10 meters away from his house.Nobody was hurt but the incident sent jitters among Madsig family and his neighbors.Madsig recalled that he was fixing his motorbike at past 9 p.m. when a loud explosion occurred. His house was hit by shrapnel.His home has two holes created by the shrapnel that missed his child who was already sleeping at the time of the incident. My son was lucky enough he was not hit by shrapnel, Madsig said.Lt. Colonel Joel Mamon, chief of the 40th Infantry Battalion stationed in Tukanalipao, said the rifle grenade attack was carried out by armed men, probably disgruntled members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).Mamon said the target could be the Army base but the attackers miscalculated and the grenade landed near Madsig's home.Madsig said if similar incident re-occur in the future, he will move his family of Tukanalipao. If i had my way, soldiers should not be here. If another explosion occur, we will all leave this place once more, he said. Hopefully, no soldiers will be stationed here so that there will be no attacks, he added.But Colonel Mamon said the Army detachment was necessary due to the on going government project in the area.The government constructed a Mosque and a concrete bridge in an area where members of the PNP Special ActionForces, who were tasked to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, clashed with armed men from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the outlawed BIFF.Zulkifli was killed but 44 SAF members also died in the ensuing clash, 17 MILF and five civilians. It happened on January 25 this year.