Four Killed in Bombing at Catholic Mass in Philippines in Islamic Terrorist Attack
Four people were killed in a bomb blast on Sunday in the Philippines while attending a Catholic Mass.
The Mass took place in Marawi in the southern part of the Philippines at a gym at Mindanao University.
Teachers and students ran out in a panic while an estimated 50 people who were injured were transported to two hospitals.
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine president blamed “foreign terrorists” for a bomb blast that killed four people Sunday, wounded dozens of other Catholic worshippers in the south and sparked a security alarm, including in the capital, Manila, where state forces were put on alert.
The suspected bomb, which the police said was made from a mortar round, went off and hit students and teachers who attended a Mass in a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in southern Marawi city, Taha Mandangan, the security chief of the state-run campus, told The Associated Press by telephone.
Dozens of students and teachers dashed out of the gym and the wounded were taken to hospitals.
According to Agence France Presse, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Agence France Presse reported:
Nearly 80% of the country’s 113 million population are Catholic and it is not uncommon for school gymnasiums and even shopping malls to designate areas for Sunday Mass, especially in places where there are no churches.
The MSU, one of country’s largest universities, said it was “deeply saddened and appalled” by the “senseless and horrific” violence.
At this time, no one responsible for the bombing has been apprehended.
“Military chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the bomb attack could be retaliation by Muslim militants for a series of battle setbacks,” according to ABC.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists upon the Mindanao State University,” President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a statement. “Extremists who wield violence against the innocent will always be regarded as enemies to our society.”
In May 2017, the Philippine military fought ISIS-linked terrorists in Marawi.
Then-president Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Marawi as the region came under siege by ISIS terrorists.
The ISIS fighters recorded themselves destroying statues and burning church walls.
ISIS posts video showing militants in Philippines burning a church in Marawi and smashing artifacts pic.twitter.com/299Fl1WGAM
— Lisa Daftari (@LisaDaftari) June 4, 2017
