Philippine president blames foreign militants for blast that killed four at Mass

A powerful explosion, believed to have been caused by a bomb, ripped through a Catholic Mass, killing four people and injuring dozens of others (Provincial Government of Lanao Del Sur – Public Information Office/AP)

The president of the Philippines has blamed “foreign terrorists” for a bomb blast that killed four Catholic worshippers and injured dozens of other people in the south, and sparked alarm, including in the capital, Manila, where state forces were put on alert.

The suspected bomb, which the police said was made from a mortar round, exploded while students and teachers were attending Mass in a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in southern Marawi city on Sunday morning, Taha Mandangan, the security chief of the state-run campus, told the Associated Press.