27 March 2017•Update: 27 March 2017
By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
A suspect believed to have thrown a grenade that killed four people in the Philippines’ majority Muslim south has died in hospital of injuries inflicted by an angry mob.
A police director in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, told GMA News on Monday that 22-year-old Sedimar Rabbah died from multiple hematoma in the troubled island province of Sulu.
Rabbah was chased and mauled by civilians who suspected him of throwing the grenade Saturday night near a grocery store in Lambayong in Bus-Bus village.
Rabbah was later arrested by police over the attack that left at least 19 other people injured with shrapnel wounds.
The incident was not immediately claimed by any of the armed groups operating in the Philippines’ troubled south.
The military, however, has blamed the Abu Sayyaf for recent bombings in Sulu, a known stronghold of the Daesh-linked terror group that has recently beheaded foreign hostages -- including a Malaysian, two Canadians and a German -- after ransoms failed to be paid.
Meanwhile, an ambush on a convoy of a vice mayor left two of his companions wounded Monday morning in nearby Basilan -- another island province where Abu Sayyaf militants maintain a strong presence.
Basilan-based radio station DXNO reported that a roadside bomb exploded as the convoy of Sumisip town Vice Mayor Jul Hataman was headed to Albarka town.
Hataman’s father is the mayor of Sumisip and his uncle Mujiv Hataman the governor of ARMM.
