Tricycle driver hurt in Lanao del Sur grenade explosion

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June 27, 2026 | 11:24am

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A tricycle driver was badly wounded in a grenade explosion that ripped through a predominantly Maranao residential enclave in Barangay Curahab in Malabang, Lanao del Sur on Thursday afternoon, June 25.

Officials of intelligence units of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade covering Lanao del Sur had told reporters that there is a possibility that the bombing was perpetrated by remnants of the now defunct Dawlah Islamiya helplessly trying to stir an impression that they are capable still of perpetrating terror attacks to intimidate villagers from whom they intend to collect "protection money” on a periodic basis.

Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Friday that the 22-year-old blast victim, Saipoden Esmail Bliss, was immediately transported by emergency responders to the Doctor Serapio Montañer Hospital in Malabang for treatment.

Officials of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and Salanguit had separately told reporters that one of the men riding a white minivan together hurled a fragmentation grenade into a residential yard in Barangay Curahab that landed and went off close to the spot where Bliss was walking by.

The white minivan ridden by the bomber and his companions, reportedly overheard threatening villagers of more grenade attacks in Maranao vernacular, immediately sped away, leaving the injured Bliss behind.

Local executives and investigators from the Malabang Municipal Police Station are cooperating in identifying the culprits for prosecution, according to Salanguit.