At least sixteen people were injured after a grenade explosion outside a Catholic church on Christmas eve in the Philippines' restive southern island of Mindanao, police said.
The security forces are on alert ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays across Southeast Asia after Australia and Indonesia police foiled bomb plots and Malaysian security forces arrested suspected militants.
No group has claimed responsibility for the Mindanao attack. Midsayap town police chief, Bernardo Tayong, said most of the injured had been standing outside the Sto. Nino parish church in Midsayap town, North Cotabato.
Jay Virador said further, the blast sent the congregation fleeing.
Virador said that, "There was no more concluding prayers as there was a commotion. People hurriedly left the Church."
Tayong added, a police officer was also injured in the incident because he was standing near a patrol car where the grenade exploded, about 30 meters from the church entrance,
The bomb experts were still at the site. There were reports that another grenade or improvised bomb was also left in the area. "Our details are sketchy yet," he said.
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