ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/01 July) – Seven people were wounded when a fragmentation grenade was lobbed into a shuttle bus of the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) Monday in this city.
Senior Supt. Edwin de Ocampo, city police officer-in-charge, said the PFDA bus was traveling along the Tetuan Highway when an unidentified man tossed a fragmentation grenade into the vehicle.
De Ocampo said the explosion injured seven of the 11 PFDA employees aboard the bus, which was en route to the Zamboanga Fish Port Complex in Barangay Sangali.
He identified the victims as Jaafar Hasan, Orly Villareal, Emil Anitan, Eugene Lozano, Luciano Jelaga, Ombre Hamsirani, Jr. and Steven Sustento.
The victims, most of whom suffered shrapnel wounds in their legs, were rushed to the Zamboanga City Medical Center.
The PFDA, which manages the Zamboanga Fish Port Complex, is a government-owned and controlled corporation attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Police Station 6 commander Chief Insp. Elmer Acuña said the assailant boarded on a motorcycle and sped towards the Sta. Cruz Commercial Complex.
Acuña said their investigation is focusing on two possible motives–extortion or rivalry over job positions at the fish port complex.
The bus incurred slight damage. It is being used to ferry the PFDA personnel to the fish port complex every morning and to the city proper every afternoon. (MindaNews)