A suspected bomb blast kills at least 3 Christian worshippers in southern Philippines

A powerful explosion believed caused by a bomb ripped through a Catholic Mass and killed at least three people and wounded several others Sunday in a predominantly Muslim city in the southern Philippines, officials said. The morning Mass was underway in a gymnasium at the state-run Marawi State University in Marawi city when the explosion happened, causing panic among dozens of worshippers and leaving the victims bloodied and sprawled on the ground, said Taha Mandangan, the security chief of the sprawling state-run campus. There was no clear indication yet who was responsible for the explosion but police said they were not ruling out the involvement of Muslim militants, who still have a presence in the region despite years of military and police offensives.