NEWSFLASH

8 DEAD IN BACLARAN GRENADE BLAST

Paranaque City, April 17, 2000 - Eight people were killed while 30 others were hurt in a grenade blast set off by unidentified men on a busy intersection in Baclaran, Parañaque yesterday afternoon.

According to police investigators, the grenade explosion could have been a diversionary tactic by thieves who robbed two jewelry shops inside the nearby Megatime Emporium at about 4:30 p.m.

The blast occurred while thousands attended Palm Sunday Mass at the Redemptorist Church a few meters away.

Most of the wounded were taken to Sta. Rita Hospital before they were transferred to various hospitals, including the Philippine General Hospital and the San Juan de Dios Hospital.

Two Parañaque policemen who were manning an outpost under the Light Rail Transit terminal in Baclaran suffered shrapnel wounds.

Responding policemen and Marine soldiers were greeted at the scene by pools of blood amid strewn slippers and shoes and scattered merchandise. Grenade shrapnel also struck some passenger jeepneys' tires, deflating them.

The lawmen arrested four suspects with the help of several storekeepers and their helpers.

Two of the suspects, identified as John de Guzman, 40, of San Mateo, Rizal, and Najir Ampuan, 25, of Marawi City, were reportedly cornered while hiding on the second floor of the Baclaran ITM Shopping Center.

Two of the suspects, however, denied involvement in the crime, claiming they were merely shopping when the explosion took place.

A fifth suspect was reportedly nabbed at about 7 last night at the Philtranco Terminal along E. de los Santos Avenue in Pasay City.

About two weeks ago, unidentified men also lobbed a grenade in front of a police precinct along Sto. Niño street in Pasay City, while their companions were robbing a nearby jewelry store. Two policemen and a civilian bystander were wounded in that explosion.

Parañaque police chief Superintendent Roberto Rongavilla said the explosion yesterday could have served a similar purpose.

Chief Superintendent Edgar Aglipay, director of the National Capital Region Police Office, held it likely that only one group was responsible for both attacks.