Grenade attack leaves three dead in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines -- A grenade explosion killed three people and wounded two others Wednesday after police said they thwarted two possible terrorist attacks, including one that may have targeted President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The grenade blast occurred around 9:45 p.m., while people were dancing on a basketball court that had been turned into a trade fair during May Day celebrations at Notre Dame village, part of Cotabato city, police chief Sanggacala Dampac said.

Col. Essel Soriano, the local military commander, said it appeared that someone lobbed the grenade and ran. The safety pin was recovered. The scene at the overwhelmed local hospital was chaotic. Nurses called for relatives of victims to donate blood for surgery.

Earlier, two large pipe bombs and a map of Davao city -- which Arroyo visited a few hours later -- were found in a pre-dawn raid on a house about an hour's drive away. The map had markings that police said might have indicated attack targets. Also confiscated were two pistols, a grenade and bomb-making gear.

Police said a firefight broke out during the 3 a.m raid on the house in Darong village in Davao del Sur province about 920 miles southeast of Manila. A 30-year-old man and a 15-year-old youth inside the house were killed, and three men were arrested.

"If these were not intercepted, it could have dealt more major damage. The pipe bombs were big," police inspector Querubin Manalang said. "When I saw the bombs, I was thinking what devastation it could cause again, how many lives would be lost."

Regional police chief Eduardo Matillano said the sites marked on the map included a cathedral, a power company, a popular mall, a public plaza, a hotel, a school and a branch of the Central Bank of the Philippines.

A police ordnance expert, Miguel Vicente, said the bombs were similar to those used in a deadly attack 10 days earlier on a department store in nearby General Santos city that killed 15 people. Two suspects who were arrested the next day claimed there was a plan for more bombings to destabilize the country, leading to stepped-up security nationwide.

In Tarlac city, about 70 miles north of Manila, there was another gunbattle involving two men armed with four fragmentation grenades and homemade pistols. One of the men was killed and another arrested, local police chief Raynaldo Berroya said.

Under questioning, the men said they had been sent by an Arab living in the area to cause May Day havoc in Tarlac, Berroya said.

Manalang said the suspects arrested near Davao might be former members of three Muslim groups -- the Abu Sayyaf, the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front -- who may be cooperating with those responsible for the April 21 bombings.