Manila: One teenager was killed and 22 other teenagers were injured when a man who lost in a coin-guessing game lobbed a grenade near a carnival site in the southern Philippines, police said.
Joseph Tumeldin, 19, died when an unknown loser lobbed a grenade at a house near the carnival at the recreational park in Poblacion Village, Carmen town, North Cotabato at 9:45 Monday evening. The grenade initially hit the upper part of the house then it rolled to a group of people who were engaged in coin-guessing game (cara y cruz), Cotabato Governor Emmylou Lala Mendoza said in a radio interview.
Tumeldin was brought to the Kabacan Medical Specialist Centre in a nearby town, where he was declared dead on arrival, Mendoza said.
The 22 injured were rushed to Kabacan's medical centre and also to the Kidapawan City Hospital where they have been recuperating from shrapnel wounds since Monday night, Mendoza said.
"The irate loser got hold of a grenade as he tried to look for the man who cheated him. When he saw the alleged cheater among those who were busy in a coin-guessing game, he lobbed the grenade and ran," local police chief Senior Inspector Jordaen Maribojo also said in a radio interview.
How the irate loser got hold of a grenade has remained a puzzle, said Maribojo, adding, "He is now the target of a police manhunt." But his name was not released.
The incident happened during the 55th founding anniversary of Carmen, North Cotabato, and on the eve of the birthday of Mayor Roger Talino of Carmen, said Governor Mendoza.
Carmen has been attacked in the past by the Abu Sayyaf, a local terror group with links to the Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network.
Authorities have blamed the Abu Sayyaf for kidnap-for-ransom, beheadings, bombings, and other terror activities in the southern Philippines.
Former separatist Muslim rebel groups and communist rebels are also based in restive southern Philippines.
