Television correspondent hurt in grenade attack

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TELEVISION CORRESPONDENT HURT IN GRENADE ATTACK

QUEZON CITY, Philippines: On the night of 2 June 2002, a grenade thrown by two men aboard a motorcycle exploded at the home of a television reporter in Cotabato City, Southern Philippines, newspapers in Metro Manila reported.

On 4 June, "The Philippine Star" reported that Salathiel Sacil, a correspondent and marketing executive for the broadcast network ABS-CBN, sustained shrapnel wounds to his left leg when a grenade landed on the roof of his house, rolled off and blew up outside the window of his bedroom. Witnesses said they saw the two men who threw the grenade.

Sacil and local police do not know what prompted the attack, the report stated. Sacil, who reports on the local news, claimed that he might have been mistaken for someone else since he has no known enemies.

"The Philippine Star" also reported that the attack is the fifteenth violent incident to occur in the city in 2002.

For further information, contact Melinda Quintos de Jesus, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), 2nd Floor, Ateneo Professional Schools, 130 H.V. dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati City, 1227, Philippines, tel: +63 2 894 1314/1326, fax: +63 2 840 0889, e-mail: cmfr@surfshop.net.ph Internet: http://www.cmfr.com.ph

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