The explosion came only a week after police also found and detonated a grenade hidden at the school’s parade ground.
Senior Inspector Abelio Jungaya, Kabacan Police chief, identified the wounded as Jenalyn Delos Reyes, 18, of Lambayong Sultan Kudarat; Rudimar Elimani, 21, of Polomolok, South Cotabato and Allan Magsano, of Kabacan, all of them students of USM.
The three other victims are Stanley Maranon, a vendor, and Alfonzo Balagot, both of Kabacan, and Amina Mantawil, a councilor of Barangay Ugalingan, Carmen.
Jungaya said an unidentified suspect lobbed an explosive in the southern part of the amphitheater where several students and bystanders were watching a contest among local band musicians as part of the university’s weeklong intramurals.
USM was celebrating its annual intramurals dubbed “Pasiklaban ‘06.”
Bystanders and university students rushed the victims to the nearby USM hospital. Jungaya told DXND Radio for Peace that the victims were declared out of danger.
“We are still investigating the kind of explosive that went off inside the USM campus,” Jungaya said.
USM administration cancelled the remaining school activities until Saturday while police are still conducting investigation.
“We are appealing to the possible witnesses to come into open and cooperate to our investigators in order to determine the perpetrators,” Jungaya said.
On Sunday morning last week, Army bomb experts detonated an M72 grenade found in the parade ground. (Williamor A. Magbanua/MindaNews)