BASILAN PROVINCE (Mindanao Examiner / July 17, 2013) – A wife of a village chieftain was killed and another injured in a grenade explosion Wednesday in the restive province of Basilan in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said the explosion occurred in the house of Reynaldo delos Santos in the village of Matibay in Lamitan City. The blast killed Sapiya Mansul, wife of Gais Mansul, the village chieftain of Sibago Island off Mohamad Ajul town in Basilan.
“Authorities are investigating the blast that killed the wife of village chieftain Gais,” Capt. Jefferson Somera, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.
No other details were made available by the military, but other reports said an unidentified man tossed the grenade in the house. It was unknown whether the target of the attack was the house owner or Mansul.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the blast, but violence and gun attacks are not uncommon in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region, where rebels are actively operating and clan war and family feud remain a serious problem in peace and order situation in the area. (Mindanao Examiner)
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