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Explosion rocks town mayor's residence in Tacurong City


KIDAPAWAN CITY — A loud explosion rocked a village and caused alarm among residents in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat province at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, police reports said. The blast occurred inside the residential compound of President Quirino town mayor Emilio Salamanca along Lapu-Lapu Street in the Poblacion, the police said. No one was hurt in the blast but residents near Salamanca’s compound panicked, Tacurong City police director Supt. Gilbert Tuzon said. Elements of the Explosives and Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team and Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) of the Sultan Kudarat provincial police office recovered from the blast site fragments of a round of a 40 mm high-explosive dual purpose (HEDP). Police hinted the explosive was fired from an M203 grenade launcher. The explosive hit a palm tree, about 30 feet high, inside Salamanca’s lot. Salamanca, in a radio interview, said he was the target in the blast, adding that for several days he saw a number of suspicious-looking people near his compound. He hinted the blast has something to do with the upcoming elections in his town. Police are investigating whether Salamanca was the target of the explosion, which occurred a day after a fragmentation grenade went off near Tacurong City's public market and injured four people, including the store owner identified as Rasul Delna. Three days earlier, EOD operatives "defused" a baggage with a suspected improvised explosive left by a still unidentified customer inside a mall in Tacurong City. There was no explosive device in the baggage. — Malu Cadelina Manar /LBG, GMA News

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