At least 18 people were killed Sunday when a double bomb attack hit a Catholic church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, the military said, days after voters backed expanded Muslim self-rule in the region.
A powerful first blast shattered pews and left bodies strewn inside the cathedral in the Catholic-majority nation’s restive south as mass was being celebrated.
Just moments later a second explosion outside killed troops who were rushing to help the wounded in the smoking and heavily damaged church on Jolo, which is overwhelmingly Muslim.
It is one of the deadliest bomb attacks to strike the insurgency-plagued southern Philippines in years, and shows the violence in the region is not over despite recent steps toward peace, experts said.
