Explosion during a Catholic mass in the Philippines kills at least four and injures dozens

At least four people were killed and about 50 others injured on Sunday in an explosion during a Roman Catholic mass at a university gym in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, the military and police said, adding that they were investigating the involvement of suspected the Islamic State. the Philippines.

The blast, believed to have been caused by a grenade or a homemade bomb, tore through a gymnasium at Mindanao State University. The university, in Lanao del Sur province, was at the center of fighting in 2017, which displaced more than 100,000 people, after local and foreign Islamic State militants laid siege to Marawi.

At least 1,200 militants, government forces and civilians were killed during the fighting, which lasted five months. Parts of Marawi, in the region with the country’s largest Muslim population, remain off-limits to civilians as unexploded ordnance from the conflict remains.

In a statement, Lanao del Sur province’s top official, Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., condemned the attack and urged investigators to get to the bottom of what he called an attack on both educational institutions and religious freedom.

Lt. Col. Palawan Miondas, a spokesman for the local military, said the military suspected members of the Islamic State’s local affiliate may have orchestrated Sunday’s attack in retaliation for the death of the man believed to be the leader of the Islamic State for Southeast Asia. That man, Abu Zacharia, was killed in June this year during a military operation near Marawi.

Maj. Gen. Gabriel Viray III, commander of the 1st Infantry Division in the area, said an investigation was underway to determine whether the local Islamic State affiliate, known as the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group, was responsible. (Daulah Islamiyah means ‘Islamic State’ in the local language). He said there are currently about 40 Daulah Islamiyah militants operating in and around the province.

“We are looking at the signature of the bomb and trying to determine if it is them,” he said, adding: “We are on high alert and our forces remain vigilant.”