The spokesman of the Manila Police District said on Friday that the bomb explosion outside a police station in Malate was possibly due to a gang war and not an act of terrorism.
MPD public information office chief Supt. Edgar Margarejo said there was no casualty in the blast at the Arellano Police Community Precinct early Friday morning.
Margarejo said three vehicles were damaged, including a Toyota Fortuner, a Ford Everest, and a motorcycle.
“We cannot consider this an act of terrorism. First, a sign of terrorism is it is premeditated, well-planned, and expected, if it is an act of terrorism, there are casualties,” Margarejo said.
Margarejo said they are looking at gang war as the possible motive behind the attack.
“In here, there was no casualty and the possible motive we are looking into, considering it is a depressed area, is a group versus another group, a war between two groups in Tuazon Street and Zapanta Street,” Margarejo said.
“That’s our focus of investigation now, but we are not ruling out all the possibilities or other motives,” he added.
Margarejo said the yet-to-be-identified perpetrator threw an MK2 fragmentation hand grenade just outside the police station.
“Well, initially the incident at Arellano PCP, one we saw was a MK2 fragmentation hand grenade thrown by a lone suspect. It hit the pavement and damaged three vehicles,” Margarejo said.
Margarejo said the MPD intelligence operating unit is now conducting a follow-up operation for the arrest of the suspect.