Grenade explodes, hurts cop day before southern Philippine city announces Abu Sayyaf-free status
Bombing attack occurs in Isabela City, Basilan province.
BASILAN: A policeman was reportedly injured in a grenade explosion in Isabela City in the southern Philippine province Basilan on Sunday night (Sept. 29), a day before a planned declaration of the city as free of the Abu Sayyaf terror group (ASG).
An unidentified person lobbed the grenade at the Community Police Assistance Center in Sunrise village at 945p.m. which exploded and injured patrolman Aldimar Salahuddin of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 9.
Salahuddin was taken to the Infante Hospital and released that night after treatment, the Manila Bulletin reported.
Investigators inspected the scene of the explosion where they recovered the safety lever of a fragmentation grenade.
Police have yet to determine if the explosion was related to the plan to declare Isabela City ASG-free.
Bombings have previously occurred in Basilan province that the public and authorities suspected aimed to refute a city’s ASG-free status including the bombing of a gas station in Lamitan City.
Scores of towns have been declared free of the ASG in Basilan province, formerly a stronghold of the extremist group.
Sulu is another southern province where several towns have been declared ASG-free, but a military official said remnants were still at large and that there was a risk the group may resurge.
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