Explosion at Philippines university kills four people
At least four people have been killed and ten wounded in an explosion at a Sunday mass service being held in a university gymnasium in Marawi, Philippines. The blast took place on the southern island of Mindanao on Sunday morning, according to CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.
Photos of the scene showed soldiers and emergency workers standing among debris in the gymnasium, with a section of the seating area blown up and chairs strewn across the floor. The governor of Lanao del Sur province, Mamintal Adiong Jr., described the incident as a “violent bombing” of the gymnasium at the Mindanao State University during a Sunday mass congregation.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. condemned the attack, describing it as “senseless and most heinous, perpetrated by foreign terrorists.” Additional security personnel have been deployed to assist in the response.
Mindanao, a province in the far south of the Philippines, sits at the borders of Malaysia and Indonesia and is home to several Islamist insurgent groups, including Abu Sayyaf. The island, the second largest in the Philippines, has long been a hotbed of insurgency against the Philippine government.
In 2017, ISIS-affiliated militants laid siege to Marawi for five months, forcing more than 350,000 residents to flee the city and the surrounding areas before the government liberated the city.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.