1 hurt in Lamitan City blast

One person was injured after a grenade was thrown at a construction site in Lamitan on Tuesday evening, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday. 

At a press conference, PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Randulf Tuaño said a security guard was hurt after the grenade went off around 7:30 p.m. 

Politics and extortion are the possible motives behind the explosion.

“Base sa imbestigasyon, ang nagmamay-ari ng nasabing construction ng food chain ay yun pong sitting city mayor,” Tuaño said.

(Based on the investigation, the owner of the said food chain construction is the sitting city mayor.)

“Second possible motive, ito po ay may kaugnayan sa extortion base doon sa modus operandi po na nabanggit ng ating regional director,” he added.

(Second possible motive, this is related to extortion based on the modus operandi mentioned by our regional director.)

The PNP official clarified that the incident was not connected to ongoing tensions in the Middle East, dismissing speculation that it may have been a spillover of the foreign conflict. —VAL, GMA Integrated News