A bomb attack on Sunday during a Catholic mass in the southern Philippines, an insurgency-hit region, killed at least three people and injured seven others, authorities said.
The explosion occurred during a mass at the Mindanao State University gymnasium in Marawi, the country’s largest Muslim city, regional police chief Allan Nobleza said.
“We are investigating whether it was an improvised explosive device or a grenade,” Nobleza said.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos strongly condemned these “senseless and particularly heinous acts by foreign terrorists,” according to a statement.
Mindanao State University released a statement condemning the “act of violence” while suspending classes and deploying more security personnel to campus.
“We stand in solidarity with our Christian community and all those affected by this tragedy,” the university said in a statement.
Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra urged members of the Muslim and Christian communities to remain united.
“Peaceful coexistence”
“Our city has long been a symbol of peaceful coexistence and harmony, and we will not allow such acts of violence to overshadow our shared commitment to peace and unity,” Gandamra said.
Photos posted on the Lanao del Sur provincial government’s Facebook page show Governor Mamintal Adiong visiting “victims injured in the bombing” at a medical facility.
The attack came after a Philippine military airstrike killed 11 Islamist militants from the Dawlah Islamiya-Philippine organization in Mindanao on Friday.
Nobleza said police were investigating whether Sunday’s attack was related to the military operation.
The military said on Saturday that the Islamist organization was planning attacks in Maguindanao del Sur province.
Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Sur are part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Militant attacks on buses, Catholic churches and public markets are a feature of the unrest that has rocked the region for decades.
In 2014, Manila signed a peace pact with the country’s largest rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front, ending their bloody armed insurgency.
But there are still small groups of Muslim insurgents who oppose the peace deal, including militants who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group. Communist rebels also operate in the region.
In May 2017, hundreds of foreign and local pro-IS fighters captured Marawi.
The Philippine army recaptured the destroyed city after a five-month battle that cost more than a thousand lives.
Another line of inquiry is whether there are remnants of the Islamist groups Maute and Abu Sayyaf, which were involved in the Marawi siege, Mr Nobleza said.