Grenade blast rocks town proper of Carmen, North Cotabato
NORTH COTABATO --- A grenade explosion ripped through the premises of the municipal hall in Carmen Wednesday night, causing panic among residents.
The local government center building is near the municipal police station.
Residents have insinuated that the bombing was meant to intimidate their police force, now prosecuting the culprits in the August 2020 gun attack that killed their local police chief, Major Joan Resurrecion.
In an initial statement early Thursday, the Police Regional Office-12 said no one was hurt in the attack.
Barangay officials said the blast that reverberated through the municipal center of Carmen, an interior town in North Cotabato, triggered panic among villagers.
Personnel of the Carmen municipal police told reporters two men riding a motorcycle together were responsible for the grenade attack.
The suspects sped away as the grenade one of them hurled near the municipal police station building went off.
Local residents are certain the bombing was related to the continuing effort of the municipal police to put behind bars via judicial process the gunmen who killed Resurrecion in August 2020 while chasing two robbers who shot dead an uncooperative Indian moneylender they tried to rob of money and jewelries early on.
Two of the suspected robbers were killed in a police operation in nearby Kabacan town, also in North Cotabato in late 2020.