Grenade explodes inside church compound in Mindanao

Two Filipino boys play Saturday, January 24, 2009 the Monopoly board game in Kidapawan City in North Cotabato province in Mindanao where unidentified men exploded a grenade at the Iglesia ni Cristo chuch in the town of Carmen. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geonarri Solmerano)

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 24, 2009) – Unidentified men on motorcycle tossed Saturday a grenade inside the church of the Iglesia ni Cristo in North Cotabato province in Mindanao, police said.

Police said the attack occurred shortly before noontime, but there were no reports of casualties. Witnesses said the two men fled after attack. Police said it still investigating the explosion.

Last month, gunmen also attacked several times another Iglesia ni Cristo church in Kabacan town also in North Cotabato.

No group claimed responsibility for the latest attack, but the military had previously blamed extortionists for the bombing attempts on Iglesia ni Cristo in Kabacan town. (Geonarri Solmerano)

Bomb explodes outside church; another explosive is disarmed in southern Philippines

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Troops foil bombing of Iglesia ni Cristo church in Mindanao

"Police blamed for lapses in intelligence and security, and failure to secure church despite past attempts to bomb Iglesia ni Cristo."

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 1, 2008) – For the third time in four days, Philippine soldiers foiled a bomb attack Monday on a church in the southern town of Kabacan in Mindanao.

Officials said soldiers discovered an improvised explosive in front of the Iglesia ni Cristo after civilians alerted the military about the bomb.

No group claimed responsibility for the failed attack, but a regional army spokesman, Lt. Col. Julieto Ando blamed extortionist for the three bombing attempts on the church.

“We have intelligence reports pointing to extortionist as behind the failed attack. The lawless elements were demanding half a million pesos every month from the Iglesia ni Cristo,” Ando told the Mindanao Examiner.

Ando previously blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the foiled attacks and for the bomb explosion Nov. 26 outside the church of the Jehova’s Witness.
On Thursday, soldiers also disarmed an improvised explosive in front of the Iglesia ni Cristo and two other bombs on Saturday.

But it was not immediately known how the bombers were able to plant explosives in front of the church despite previous attempt to blow up the church.

Christian worshipers blamed the police in Kabacan town for for lapses in intelligence and security and its failure to guard the area despite repeated attempts to attack the Iglesia ni Cristo and the bombing of the Jehova’s Witness church.

Ando said Monday’s improvised explosive was assembled from an anti-rocket commonly used by MILF rebels. “There is no doubt rebels were behind this latest attempt to bomb the church,” he said without elaborating further.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting the past decades for self-determination.

Peace talks between the MILF and Manila collapsed in August after rebels launched a series of deadly attacks over in North Cotabato, Sarangani and Lanao del Norte provinces in Mindanao over the failed signing of a Muslim homeland deal between the two sides.

And sporadic fighting continues in some areas in the troubled region. Clashes were also reported since Friday in Basilan island, south of Zamboanga City, where troops mounted fresh offensives to flush out the Abu Sayyaf fighters.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small group of militants allied with the MILF and is largely blamed for the spate of kidnappings-for-ransom and extortion in Mindanao. It is also believed to have ties with the Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terror networks. (Mindanao Examiner)

Security forces defuse bomb planted at Christian church in Southern Philipppines

A temple of the Inglesia Ni Cristo in the Philippines. Security forces have disarmed Saturday, November 29, 200 two bombs planted in front of an Iglesia Ni Cristo Church in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province in Mindanao island, south of the country. (Photo from josepherdon.blogspot.com)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 29, 2008) – Government soldiers and policemen have defused Saturday two powerful improvised explosives planted in front of a Christian church in Mindanao island, south of the Philippines, where security forces are battling Moro and communist insurgencies the past decades.

The explosives, assembled from two 60mm mortar bombs, were planted in front of the Iglesia Ni Cristo in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province. It was the second time that a bomb was left near the Iglesia Ni Cristo Church this week, said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

Although no groups or individual claimed responsibility for the failed bombings, Ando said the explosives had the signature of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“The MILF is known to use that kind of IED,” he said without elaborating further, but the military has blamed the secessionist rebel group to a bomb attack late Wednesday outside the church of the Adventist Jehova's Witness also in Kabacan town.

The blast caused no major damage to the church, but it sent a chilling warning that even churches are now being targeted by terrorists, according to Ando. “We still do not know why churches are being targeted,” he said.

Ando said the previous bomb found in front of the Iglesia Ni Cristo Church was concealed in a backpack and had wirings connected to an electronic clock.

The MILF, the country's largest Muslim rebel group, has denied involvement in the foiled attack or in the previous bombing.

Manila has suspended peace talks with the MILF after rebel forces launched simultaneous attacks on civilian targets in Mindanao in August after the failed signing of a Muslim homeland deal, which the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional. The deal would have granted more than four million Muslims their own homeland in Mindanao.

Security forces are fighting both Moro and communist insurgencies in Mindanao for more than three decades now.

Beside the two groups, authorities are also battling local Abu Sayyaf militants, whose group has links with the Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terrorists, blamed for several deadly attacks in the past in the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

Army disarms IED planted outside Church in southern Philippines

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