KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 23 Dec) — Sunday’s grenade attack in Cotabato City disrupted the 5:30 p.m. mass at the Catholic cathedral there, a priest said Monday.
Condemning the violence, Fr. Zaldy Robles, parish priest of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, said the mass-goers scampered to safety after hearing the explosion and the bursts of gun fires.
“The mass-goers rushed out of the church towards the convent and the formation center after the explosion and the series of gun fires.
They eventually returned and the mass resumed,” he said in a phone interview.
But the next 6:30 p.m. mass was eventually cancelled due to security reasons, he added.
According to a police report, the grenade was thrown along Sinsuat Avenue, beside the radio station, which is owned by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), and the cathedral in the city, the seat of the Archdiocese of Cotabato.
Moments later, explosions also rocked the nearby town of Libungan in North Cotabato and Upi in Maguindanao, which are also part of the archdiocesan territory.
The military blamed the explosions to the Islamic State-aligned Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Cotabato Archbishop Angelito Lampon, OMI, was not in the city when the explosion hit but was closely monitoring the incidents, Robles said.
“It is sad that this kind of violence is happening while we are celebrating the holy Christmas season,” the priest said.
Nine soldiers manning the church were hurt by the grenade blast while a dozen civilians were also injured in the separate explosions, authorities said.
