Blast rocks Jolo Cathedral; no one injured

CAMP S.K. PENDATUN, Maguindanao, Philippines – Unidentified suspects hurled yesterday morning a fragmentation grenade outside the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu, that shattered church windows, causing panic but no one was injured.

The operations center here of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police said operatives of the Sulu provincial police are tracking down several persons suspected of being involved in the bombing.

Police said the grenade exploded at about 5 a.m. outside the cathedral near the adjoining tombs of Sulu’s former bishop Benjamin de Jesus and the first American Catholic vicar of the province, Francis McSorley.

Two gunmen had murdered Bishop De Jesus near the same cathedral.

Oblate missionary Fr. Jose Ante, who was scheduled to officiate the 6 a.m. Mass, said no one was killed or injured in the bombing.

“Fortunately, there were no people yet that’s why no one was hurt,” Ante said in a text messages to reporters. “God is still protecting us.”

Church authorities immediately closed the church and suspended Mass for several hours after the explosion.

Ante, who is involved in various local projects to promote peace, said the blast shattered the glass windows of the cathedral near the spot where the grenade landed.

‘Satanic act’

ARMM acting governor Ansarudin Adiong condemned the bombing as a “satanic act.”

Adiong said he ordered the ARMM regional police to tap the members of the Sulu provincial peace and order council to determine the identities of the suspects and build a criminal case against them.

Sulu’s Catholic community is worried about a possible repeat of the attack.

The Mt. Carmel Cathedral is the oldest Catholic church in Sulu, which is located at the center of the town. The church had been bombed several times in the past two decades.

The ARMM police have blamed “religious extremists” for the bombing.

Brig. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, commander of the anti-terrorism Joint Task Force Comet, said previous grenade explosions in the area have been blamed on the Abu Sayyaf.

Third attack

The latest bombing at the cathedral was the third attack on the church since November.

A member of the Philippine Marines was injured in the second attack last December.

Guerrero said no one claimed responsibility for the latest explosion.

Military and police authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf for the previous grenade attacks.

“We believe the motive of the attack was to create tension,” Guerrero said, citing that the incident happened just before people gathered for Sunday mass.

Guerrero said the series of grenade attacks on the cathedral prompted the Jolo Internal Defense Force (JIDF) under Lt. Col. Robert Velasco, commanding officer of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 (MBLT), to beef up security in the area.

The Marines have also intensified security measures in Jolo, the capital town of Sulu, with the prevailing threats of the Abu Sayyaf to stage attacks on the urban area.

Extremists in Sulu planted a roadside bomb last September that killed two US soldiers who were training local forces. – With Helen Flores