2 dead in Zamboanga City mosque grenade blast

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — A grenade lobbed through a window of a mosque in a village in this city killed two Islamic preachers and wounded three of their companions minutes after midnight yesterday.

Police said the fragmentation grenade – thrown by an unidentified man – exploded inside the Kamardikaan Mosque where the victims were sleeping at 12:20 a.m. The mosque is on Logoy Diutay drive, Barangay Talon-Talon.

The mosque explosion came three days after the blasts at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo that killed 21 people and wounded 100 others.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Duterte administration would leave no stone unturned in pursuing and punishing the mosque bombers.

“The successive attacks on two different places of worship depict the ruthlessness and the godlessness of these mass murderers,” Panelo said.

City police chief Senior Supt. Joseph Thomas Martir identified the victims as Hadji Sattal Bato, 47, a resident of Isabela City; and Rex Habil, 46, of Lamitan City, in Basilan.

Injured were Palson Asgali, 44; Alniskar Sabbaha, 30; and Jikilani Albani, 60, of Lamitan City.

One of the victims died on the spot while the other was declared dead on arrival in a hospital.

The victims were among the group of 11 Islamic preachers or Tabligh doing stay-in preaching for the past two days.

Caretaker Jojo Gonzales, whose house is next to the mosque, said he heard what he thought was a hard object hitting a part of the mosque.

“The explosion was very loud that I was awakened and placed my family to safety and went to the mosque and saw the victims; one of them was already dead and the other badly injured and was trying to move,” Gonzales said.

Anticipating a second explosion, he said he asked those who had survived the blast to stay put, as he rushed outside for help and alert neighbors.

Responding policemen recovered from the crime scene a safety lever, a ball bearing and part of a Belgian-made PRB 423 grenade.

Police said the suspects may have busted or switched off the streetlights in the area before the grenade attack.

Lamitan City Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay said the victims, who were his constituents, were known to be peaceful with no known enemies.

Muslim religious leaders called for unity and sobriety. “While we condemn this act, let us not speculate and connect the incident. Allow the authorities to find the real culprit and the truth,” Sheik Wakil Tanjilil, a member of the Darul Ifta, said.

Mayor Maria Isabela Climaco-Salazar asked the police to leave no stone unturned in their investigation of the grenade attack.

“Let us remain calm and stay vigilant and allow the authorities to bring the suspects before the bar of justice,” Rep. Celso Lobregat said.

No connection

Police, meanwhile, said they see no connection between the mosque grenade attack and the Jolo cathedral bombing last Sunday.

“The one that hit Jolo was due to an IED (improvised explosive device). Here,  a grenade was used,” Martir told journalists.

One of the victims in the mosque attack, Habil, was a barangay official of Lamitan.

“In politics sometimes there’s a grudge. Maybe he was followed,” Martir said in Filipino.

“So as of now we see there is nothing to do with the incident in Jolo. We have already persons of interest,” Martir said without elaborating.

The Zamboanga City police is under orders from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to step up security measures.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) called for sobriety and vigilance.

“Let us not be swayed by the recent developments that seem to project a religious complexion in the recent tragic incidents,” military spokesman Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said yesterday.

He said AFP chief of staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. was conveying his sincere condolences and deep sympathies to the loved ones and families of the victims in the mosque attack.

“We ask for your active involvement by reporting your observations about unusual developments in your area, presence of unfamiliar persons, unattended packages and the like,” Arevalo said.

‘Affront to dignity’

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) also condemned the mosque attack and the Jolo cathedral bombing, calling them “affronts to the dignity of every Filipino (that go) against every fiber of a peace-loving nation.”

Jacqueline de Guia, CHR spokesperson, said she hopes the latest violence would “not spoil our vision for a just and lasting peace” in Mindanao.

“It is alarming that this incident happened just days after Jolo, Sulu suffered from twin bombings at a Catholic cathedral,” she said.

“As such, we urge the government to make all perpetrators accountable and prevent similar incidents from happening,” she said. The CHR is already conducting an investigation of the grenade attack.

Meanwhile, opposition senatorial candidate Samira Gutoc also condemned the mosque attack.

“I strongly denounce this recent and reprehensible act of murder perpetrated by cowards who, under cover of darkness and while people are resting, lodged a bomb in a mosque in Zamboanga City last night,” Gutoc said.

Gutoc called on the police and the military to conduct a full-scale investigation of the attacks.

She said the attacks would not hinder the people in Mindanao in their resolve to achieve lasting peace in the region.

“We may be grieving, we may be vulnerable, but we will never be cowed. Our communities will resist your dark agenda with even more fervor,” Gutoc said.

At Malacañang, Panelo said the government would not think twice about using force against the perpetrators of the latest violence.

“The Armed forces of the Philippines will unleash its might and weaponry against these enemies of the state and hunt them ferociously and relentlessly until the law rolls down its guillotine on them,” he said. – With Helen Flores, Michael Punongbayan, Christina Mendez, Rainier Allan Ronda, Emmanuel Tupas