{"id":31096,"date":"2019-01-30T02:22:27","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T02:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=31096"},"modified":"2019-01-30T02:22:27","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T02:22:27","slug":"southern-philippines-mosque-hit-by-deadly-grenade-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=31096","title":{"rendered":"Southern Philippines mosque hit by deadly grenade attack"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At least two people have been killed and four others wounded in a grenade attack on a mosque in the southern Philippines<\/a>, say local officials.<\/p>\n

The attack\u00a0in Zamboanga city<\/span>\u00a0took place in the early hours of Wednesday, just days after deadly twin blasts<\/a> at a Roman Catholic cathedral on a nearby island and a vote backing wider Muslim self-rule in Mindanao, the country’s volatile southernmost region.<\/p>\n

“A grenade was lobbed inside a mosque killing two persons and wounding another four,” regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Besana told AFP news agency of the attack in Zamboanga.<\/p>\n

Rappler, a Philippine news outlet, cited<\/a> an initial police report as saying that “an unidentified suspect turned off the nearby streetlight then threw a grenade inside the mosque … city where Muslim religious leaders were resting”.<\/p>\n

The victims were reportedly sleeping inside the mosque at the time of the attack, which drew immediate condemnation from authorities.<\/p>\n

“There is no redeeming such blasphemous murder. It is the highest form of cowardice and obscenity to attack people who at prayer,” said regional leader Mujiv Hataman.<\/p>\n

“We call on people of all faiths… to come together to pray for peace.”<\/p>\n

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.<\/p>\n

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INSIDE STORY: Can there be peace in the southern Philippines? (24:35)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

The attack\u00a0comes as the Philippines was put on high alert\u00a0after two explosions during a Sunday church service at\u00a0the\u00a0Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo town, Sulu province, killed at least 21 people and wounded more than 100 others.<\/p>\n

Authorities have not said if the two attacks are related.<\/p>\n

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant<\/a> (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the cathedral blast,<\/span>\u00a0one of the worst incidents of violence in Philippines<\/span>‘ restive south.<\/p>\n

President Rodrigo Duterte blamed Abu Sayyaf, a domestic armed group that has pledged allegiance to ISIL and has carried out bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Mindanao, for carrying out the church bombing.<\/p>\n

“Nobody, but nobody, could perpetuate that kind of terrorism in that area,” he said this week during a visit to the region.<\/p>\n

Last week, a referendum on expanded autonomy for the mainly Muslim region returned an overwhelming “yes” vote amid hopes the plan would bring development, jobs and peace to a region long plagued by poverty and instability.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n SOURCE:
\n Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least two people have been killed and four others wounded in a grenade attack on a mosque in the southern Philippines, say local officials. The attack\u00a0in Zamboanga city\u00a0took place in the early hours of Wednesday, just days after deadly twin blasts at a Roman Catholic cathedral on a nearby island and a vote backing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}