2 soldiers, 3 civilians hurt in Maguindanao del Sur grenade attack

Two Army Scout Rangers and three civilians were hurt in a grenade blast that ripped through a stretch of a highway in Barangay Mother Poblacion in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur on Saturday morning, July 18. Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, identified the wounded soldiers as Cpl. Jessie Jay Bulanay and Cpl. Arnel Calapan of the 4th Scout Ranger Company of the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion of the Philippine Army. Personnel of the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion of the Army's Special Operations Command are involved in anti-terror operations in Shariff Aguak and in nearby towns, under the supervision of Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, which is based in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte. Bulanay and Calapan, were aboard a military KM 450 vehicle then, on their way to Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat, along with other Scout Rangers, for a supposedly routinary marketing mission. One of two men together on a motorcycle, trailing behind threw a grenade at them, which landed at one side of the highway, not on the cargo deck of the KM 450, and went off. Bulanay and Calapan were hit by shrapnel in the left knee and left hand, respectively. The explosion left three villagers, John Dave Usman Santiago, Bassir Amban Batong and female Pamiya Upam Bulingkig wounded. All five of them were immediately transported by emergency responders to the nearby Bangsamoro Regional Hospital in Shariff Aguak for treatment. Salanguit said officials of the Shariff Aguak Municipal Police Station and local executives, including Mayor Akmad Baganian Ampatuan Sr., are cooperating in identifying the two men behind the bombing. Officials of intelligence units under the Army’s 6th ID, which has jurisdiction over Maguindanao del Sur, had told reporters that confidential informants had relayed to them that there are indications that remnants of the now defunct Dawlah Islamiya could be responsible for the atrocity, as retaliation for the death of more than 30 companions killed in military anti-terror operations in different towns in the province January this year.