The police yesterday said they will request the National Bureau of Investigation for artists' sketches of the suspects in the grenade blast at the Department of Agrarian Reform Office in Bacolod City Thursday.

Case investigator PO2 Celito Dullan of Police Station 1 said a female teenager had talked to two men who may have been the ones who threw the grenade at the DAR compound at about 1:50 a.m. Thursday.

Dullan said, the men who used the same red Honda XRM when they lobbed the explosive later, tried to buy toothpaste and cigarets from the minor's store beside the office at about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Dullan also said the suspects may just have been pretending to transact business with the girl while checking the security measures of the DAR compound.

He said they could request the NBI to create the facial sketches of the two with the help of the teenager, and file charges against them.

Dullan added they are also working with tanods in the area to get information on the suspects.

A safety lever usually found in military anti-personnel grenades, along with broken pieces of the device was found in the blast area, Police Station 1 commander, Chief Inspector Noel Manaay, said.

Bomb expert Denny Montoya of the Bacolod City Police Office Firearms and Explosives Division confirmed that the explosive thrown was a grenade.

Witnesses said they saw two men, covering their mouths with towels, speed away on a red Honda XRM motorcycle after the explosion.

Security at the compound has been heightened with police officers detailed there after Thursday's incident.*PP

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