World | Philippines
Two arrested for attack on Philippines church
Authorities have apprehended two suspects in connection with a deadly bomb blast on Sunday morning that killed at least five people and injured dozens of others, mostly churchgoers in Cotabato City, southern Philippines.
- By Gilbert Felongco, Correspondent
- Published: 22:53 July 5, 2009
- Soldiers wounded in a bomb blast outside a church lie in a hospital in Cotabato City.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Manila: Authorities have apprehended two suspects in connection with a deadly bomb blast on Sunday morning that killed at least five people and injured dozens of others, mostly churchgoers in Cotabato City, southern Philippines.
Radio reports reaching Manila quoted Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema as saying that the army-led Task Force Tugis (Pursuit) has taken under its custody two suspects in connection with the blast at the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral.
One of the suspects in custody was last seen by witnesses leaving a backpack beside a stall before the blast occurred.
The explosion took place at 8.40am as people were listening to the Sunday sermon by Archbishop Orlando Quevedo.
The blast killed Ruby Ramirez, the 42-year-old woman tending the stall; Prince Diaz, a 15-year-old student of Notre Dame of Cotabato City, Paulo Kahar, an army soldier and another unidentified man who was said to be mentally ill.
At least 40 other people had been taken to various hospitals in the city as church officials and local authorities made an appeal to residents to donate blood for the injured people.
Most of the casualties resulted from the stampede that occurred as people rushed to the cathedral's exits seconds after the explosion.
Lt Col Jonathan Ponce, spokesman for the Army 6th Infantry Division based in the Central Mindanao region, blamed the attack to a so-called "Special Operation Group" of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
In an interview aired by the Bombo Radio station, Ponce quoted an official of the Army Explosive and Ordnance Division as saying that the blast had been caused by an improvised explosive device apparently fashioned from a 60 or 81 millimetre mortar shell rigged to a timing device.
According a statement published in the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website, CBCP Online, the attack and the resulting carnage marks the "saddest day" in the history of catholicism in the predominantly Muslim city, located 700km south of Manila.
The statement noted that there had been a similar attempt to bomb the cathedral in the past.
"Last January 14, a powerful improvised bomb was found inside the cathedral but it failed to go off due to faulty wiring," police and church officials said.
The presidential palace, for its part, condemned the bomb attack as a "murderous act of insanity."
"We strongly condemn this most recent act of terrorism victimising innocent civilians," Secretary Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser For Mindanao, said.
"This incident will all the more strengthen the affected community's resolve to contend with and overcome the evil designs of those behind this cowardly act of treachery and violence," Dureza said.
Hours prior to the blast in Cotabato City, a powerful explosion rocked the village of Poblacion in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao province around 7pm Saturday.
The MILF's Luwaran website reported that three civilians were seriously wounded by the blast which the report, on the other hand, said were the handiwork of the military.
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