Are the Muslims getting a taste of their own medicine? They are condemning this as a “real terrorists act”?
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North Cotabato mosque bombing kills 4, wounds 17 worshipers
By Karl B. Kaufman, Reporter and Jeoffrey Maitem, Correspondent
FOUR people, including two government officials, were killed and 17 others were wounded Friday noon in a grenade blast in Midsayap, North Cotabato, according to reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo.
The Armed Forces public information chief, Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, confirmed the incident, which occurred 12:20 p.m. in a mosque inside the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) compound in Villarica village, Midsayap.
Only two of the four dead were identified: Macmud Minding, regional director of NIA-12; and Omar Mamalac, an engineer and provincial irrigation officer of Maguindanao province.
Reports from Camp Aguinaldo said an undetermined number of men threw the grenades. Their group affiliation were unknown at press time.
“We have no suspects yet. The police of Midsayap are still investigating the case,” Lucero said.
The secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which the military implicated in previous bombings in Mindanao, immediately condemned the atrocity, calling it “the work of real terrorists.”
In Midsayap Dr. Gemma Lebarios, medical director of the Community Doctors Hospital, said Mamalac was proclaimed dead on arrival.
She said nine victims were confined at the town hospital—Abdul Nasser, Atong Wawa, Abu Ulama, Damano Dandan, Abdul Guipar, Nash Abdullah, Said Dumana, Candidatu Baghay, all NIA-12 employees; and Abdullah Radsak, a bus conductor.
Five victims were confined at the Midsayap Diagnostic Center.
Investigation showed that the victims were attending a Friday Muslim prayer at a mosque inside the compound of their office at Barangay Villarica when an unknown man lobbed two grenades.
The two safety pins were recovered at the door of the mosque.
“I have ordered an investigation into the heinous crime. We will give a reward to anybody who can provide fresh information about the whereabouts of the killers,” said Emanuel Piñol, governor of North Cotabato.
Luciano Cadungog Jr., a witness and employee of NIA-12, told radio station dxMS NIA-12 that the equipment division supervisor, Amilodin Dilangalen, 50, was among the more than 20 of his co-employees who were wounded in the explosion. Dilangalen was wounded in his left arm.
--with Anthony Vargas, Correspondent
