Islamic State claims bombing that killed at least 4 at Philippines Catholic mass
- The explosion ripped through a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in the southern Philippines where a Catholic Mass was taking place on Sunday
- The blast in Marawi, a city besieged by pro-Islamic State militants in 2017, followed the killing of 11 combatants in a military operation on Friday
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a Catholic mass on Sunday in the southern Philippines, which police said killed at least four people.
“The soldiers of the caliphate detonated an explosive device on a large gathering of Christians ... in the city of Marawi,” the group said in a statement on its Telegram channels.
The attack, which also wounded dozens, took place during a Catholic Mass in a university gymnasium in the southern city of Marawi on the island of Mindanao.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists,” said Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr.
“Extremists who wield violence against the innocent will always be regarded as enemies to our society,” the president said.
The blast in Marawi, a city besieged by pro-Islamic State militants for five months in 2017, followed the killing of 11 combatants in a military operation on Friday in Maguindanao del Sur some 200km away.