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'Islamist' Bomb Kills 5 at Philippines Cathedral

45 injured in blast blamed on Islamic separatists

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 5, 2009 8:13 AM CDT
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(Newser) – A bombing outside a church in the southern Philippines this morning killed five and injured 45, Reuters reports. The military blamed the attack on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a militant separatist group, the BBC notes. “The rebels are getting desperate and they are no longer choosing their targets," an official said. "They are now attacking even places of worship.” A leader of the group denied the charge.

“Who needs a Christian-Muslim conflict?" he told Reuters via text message. "There's no religious conflict in the south. We're fighting for our right of self-determination. We're only defending our people and our communities.”

Filipinos stand beside debris caused by a bomb explosion just outside a Catholic church in Cotabato city, southern Philippines on Sunday, July 5, 2009.
Filipinos stand beside debris caused by a bomb explosion just outside a Catholic church in Cotabato city, southern Philippines on Sunday, July 5, 2009.   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 4 comments
riffran
Jul 6, 2009 12:49 PM CDT
under his breath chanting "die infidels die"..
Sphinx
Jul 5, 2009 11:26 AM CDT
The Islamic leader denied it. Hearing the word "explosion" isn't enough evidence that Muslim's were involved.
2-bits
Jul 5, 2009 6:17 AM CDT
You're not looking hard enough; it happens, but not very frequently. But yeah, Islam seems stuck in the 14th century. They haven't gotten to the point where they ignore all the crazy stuff in their book of choice and cherry pick the stuff that makes sense, as Christians and Jews have already done. Not to say that this is true for the majority of Muslims, but it does seem far more pronounced.

 
church • bombing • Philippines • Islamist • militant • separatist group • Moro Islamic Liberation Front • MILF

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