Five injured in attack on Zamboanga church | Inquirer News

Five injured in attack on Zamboanga church

/ 03:44 PM February 02, 2014

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ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Five people were injured Sunday when motorcycle-riding men hurled a grenade into a church in the troubled southern Philippines in a city known for Muslim rebel activity, officials said.

One of two men on the motorcycle threw the grenade into the Roman Catholic church in a suburb of the city of Zamboanga just as a group of senior citizens were meeting there, police and district officials said.

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Four senior citizens and one passer-by were injured, said district chief Jodifer Arquiza.

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“It (the motive) is unlikely to be personal. What can they get from these senior citizens? Perhaps this is a message,” he told reporters.

The local police chief, Chief Inspector Felixberto Martinez, said they were pursuing all possible leads but could not give a motive for the attack.

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The bombing came days after troops elsewhere in Mindanao island launched a major operation against a breakaway Muslim rebel group opposed to peace talks with the main Muslim rebel organization, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

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Zamboanga City was also the scene of a bloody siege in September by another Muslim armed group which feared that the peace talks with the MILF would sideline them.

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More than 240 people were killed in the three weeks of fighting in Zamboanga, a city with a mixed Christian and Muslim population.

Despite the threats of violence, government and MILF negotiators on January 25 announced that they had successfully completed talks aimed at ending a decades-long Muslim insurgency that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

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President Benigno Aquino recently said the government would crush “spoiler” rebels that might try to derail the peace process with the MILF.

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Aquino vows to crush ‘spoiler’ rebels

TAGS: Attacks, Bangsamoro, Insurgency, MILF, Muslim, Philippines, rebellion, Regions, Unrest

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