Grenade attack kills two at mosque in southern Philippines, days after cathedral bombing and self-rule vote
MANILA - A grenade attack on a mosque in the troubled southern Philippines killed two people early Wednesday, authorities said, just days after a deadly Catholic cathedral bombing and a vote backing Muslim self-rule.
The blast tore through the building as the victims were sleeping in the pre-dawn darkness on the insurgency-plagued island of Mindanao, which is home to the Philippines’ Muslim minority.
Blood-streaked prayer mats and shattered glass could be seen on the floor inside the mosque where heavily armed security forces were working at the scene.
The blast came as the Catholic-majority nation was on high alert after a cathedral bombing that killed 21 people during Sunday Mass in an attack claimed by the Islamic State.
Regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Gerry Besana said two people were killed and four others were wounded in the mosque attack in Zamboanga City.
“It is very hard to speculate whether this was retaliation (for the cathedral attack),” Besana said. “There are a lot of possible explanations.”
Authorities are also hunting for the attackers involved in the cathedral attack on the island of Jolo, which security forces initially said was not a suicide attack.
However, on Tuesday President Rodrigo Duterte contradicted them saying one of the bombers had blown himself up outside the cathedral on the overwhelmingly Muslim island.
The probe was pointing toward a group tied to the notorious Islamist kidnap-for-ransom group Abu Sayyaf, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/01/30/asia-pacific/grenade-attack-kills-two-mosque-southern-philippines-days-cathedral-bombing-self-rule-vote/