Grenade attack on mosque: 2 Muslim preachers killed

SCENE OF THE CRIME A police investigator examines themessy aftermath of a grenade explosion at a mosque in Zamboanga City on Wednesday morning, three days after twin bombings ripped through the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Sulu province. —PHOTO COURTESY OF WESMINCOM

Authorities on Wednesday called for calm and advised against speculation after a grenade attack on a mosque killed two Muslims and wounded four others in Zamboanga City, just days after a deadly bombing at a Catholic church in Jolo, Sulu province, and a vote backing Muslim self-rule in Mindanao.

The grenade explosion in Zamboanga City came hours after President Rodrigo Duterte claimed on television that the attack on the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo on Sunday was carried out by two suicide bombers.

In the latest violence, a grenade was thrown into a small mosque at Barangay Talon-Talon, Zamboanga City, at 12:20 a.m. on Wednesday.

Col. Leonel Nicolas, commander of Joint Task Force Zamboanga, said the explosion killed Islamic preachers Sattal Bato, 47,  and Rex Habil, and wounded four others — Yasson Asgali, 46; Paulo Salahuddin, 41; Alabani Jakilani, 67; and Amidz Kassara, 30.

Police said the grenade, thrown through the mosque’s glass window, landed where the victims were sleeping.

Thickly populated community

The mosque is located at the far end of the thickly populated community.

Owned by a retired police official, the small mosque is maintained by Muslim scholars.

It was unclear how the attack was carried out, but Chief Insp. Shellamae Chang, spokesperson for the Zamboanga City Police Office, said the attacker took advantage of the darkness in the area.

The attack prompted worries of sectarian retaliation, but authorities urged unity across faiths as investigators looked for a motive.

Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle Salazar warned against speculation, appealing to residents not to make comments that could spark hatred.

“We don’t want to link this to the Jolo incident. This is not about religion,” Salazar said.

“This incident has to be investigated thoroughly. We don’t want to give this impression that this is another attack on religion,” she added.

‘Mass murderers’

Malacañang condemned the attack on the mosque, calling the perpetrators “mass murderers.”

“The successive attacks on two different places of worship depict the ruthlessness and the godlessness of these mass murderers,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

Panelo said the military would hunt down the perpetrators and promised that the government would protect the people of Mindanao.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he saw no relation between the attack on the mosque and the twin explosions at the Jolo cathedral.

“Just looking at it. We do not see any connection because even in the past when churches were being bombed in Davao, Cotabato, General Santos City or wherever, there has been no retaliation. No mosque was bombed in retaliation or whatever immediately after that,” Lorenzana told reporters at the military’s headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr., chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, appealed to the public not to give a “religious complexion” to the Jolo and Zamboanga City attacks and instead cooperate with the security forces by reporting “unusual developments” in their communities.

The bodies of Bato and Habil were taken to Basilan. The four wounded men received treatment at Zamboanga City Medical Center.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the key force in the Muslim insurgency in Mindanao that has signed a peace agreement with the government, condemned the attack on the Zamboanga mosque.

‘Crazy people’

Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chair and head of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, said the attack on the mosque could only have been carried out by “crazy people.”

“We strongly condemn the bombing of the mosque even as we call upon our people not to be swayed by emotion and fall into the trap [of] those who want to draw a barrier between our peace-loving communities,” said Von Al Haq, spokesperson for the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed wing of the MILF.

“Let us instead stand and unite firmly to promote peace in our midst,” he said as he extended the MILF’s sympathies to the families of the victims.

The militant Moro group Suara Bangsamoro urged the public not to be influenced by people who may be attempting to sow discord and religious animosity.

“If the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are aiming to foment religious animosity, then we should not let their evil intentions succeed and divide our nation,” said Jerome Aba, spokesperson for the group.

“Like the bombings at the cathedral in Jolo, the bombing at the [mosque] is reproachable. Attacks on civilian population are against all moral laws and are never justifiable,” he said.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao blasted the attacks on the Zamboanga mosque and the Jolo cathedral as “blasphemous murder.”

Hataman called on the authorities to act with speed and thoroughness in their investigation of the two attacks, identify the perpetrators, and prosecute them. —Reports from Julie Alipala, Christine O. Avendaño, Jeannette I. Andrade, Taher Solaiman, Mart Sambalud, Bong Sarmiento and AFP