COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 3, 2010) – Armed men lobbed a grenade at the house of a provincial lawmaker in the restive southern Philippine region, but authorities reported no casualties in the daring attack blamed on hired assassins.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional army spokesman, said the attack, carried out by two men on a motorcycle late Tuesday, targeted Talib Abo Jr, who belongs to the 1st Congressional district of Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the troubled Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao. 

The blast tore through the garage of Abo’s house in Cotabato City. 

No group or individual clamed responsibility for the blast, but police and military suspected hired assassins were behind the attack. It was not immediately known if Abo was in the house at the time of the attack. 

“Members of the (military’s anti-terror) Task Force Tugis of the 6th Infantry Division responded at the scene of the incident and conducted pursuit operation against the suspects, but they were able to escape,” Cabangbang said.

He said authorities were still investigating the motive of the attack. (Mindanao Examiner)