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Grenade blast at mosque in Zamboanga City leaves 2 dead, 3 injured
It was reported that the incident took place at 12:20 a.
m. while the victims were sleeping in a mosque in Barangay Talon-Talon, Zamboanga City. (Shutterstock file photo)
A grenade explosion in a mosque in Zamboanga City on Wednesday, January 30, killed two people and injured three others.
It was reported that the incident took place at 12:20 a.m. while the victims were sleeping in a mosque in Barangay Talon-Talon, Zamboanga City.
Authorities have recovered a safety pin for a grenade in the blast site.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Zamboanga Peninsula Regional Police Director Chief Superintendent Emmanuel Licup said the three individuals who were injured from the explosion were already brought to the Zamboanga Medical Center and are in stable condition.
“Ang namatay ay dalawa at mayroon initial na tatlo ang sugatan (Two were dead and an initial count of three people were injured) but we have to confirm kung naging apat ‘yung sugatan (if it climbed to four),” Licup said.
As of writing, the cop said they have yet to determine the identity of the suspects and their motives.
“Some people are trying to connect it doon sa (to the) incident sa (in) Jolo but wala pa tayong pwedeng sabihin, wala pang (we cannot say anything, we do not have a) lead to say really kung ano ang motive diyan (what was the motive there),” Licup explained, as the blast happened three days after two bombs hit a cathedral in Jolo, Sulu, killing 22 people.
He added that the police in Zamboanga City are on full alert status and that checkpoints and law enforcement operations in the area are continuous.
Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), meanwhile, said in a tweet that Red Cross first aid teams and ambulance headed to the blast site to respond to the incident.
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman, on the other hand, condemned the grenade attack just “as much vehemence” as they condemned the Jolo twin bombings.
“There is no redeeming such blasphemous murder. It is the highest form of cowardice and obscenity to attack people who are at prayer,” he said.
Hataman then called on the authorities to probe the incident with “alacrity and thoroughness” and prosecute the perpetrators behind the explosion “to the fullest extent of the law.”
