CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines -- Moslem rebels seeking recognition from the government exploded a grenade in a church packed with up to 500 people during a wedding mass, leaving 10 dead and 96 wounded, officials said today.
Two of five guerrillas allegedly responsible for the attack Sunday at a Roman Catholic church in the town of Salvador, 500 miles south of Manila, were gunned down by police andmilitiamen as they tried to escape, the officials said.
A military spokesman said in a telephone interview the attackers were members of Moro Islamic Liberation Front -- the MILF, one of three Moslem rebel factions operating in the Mindanao Sulu region.
Col. Raul Aquino, an army spokesman in Lanao del Norte province, said four people died on the spot and six others later died from shrapnel wounds in hospitals.
Aquino said 96 people, some hit by stray bullets in the gunbattle, were being treated in clinics and hospitals.
The grenade attack took place two days after President Corazon Aquino flew to the southern island of Jolo for an unprecedented meeting with Nur Misuari, chief of the separatist Moro National Liberation Front - known as MNLF, which is a rival of the group alleged to have staged the grenade attack.
President Aquino and Misuari, whose 5,000-strong force is the largest of the three Moslem rebel groups, agreed to hold peace talks under the auspices of the 48-nation Islamic Conference in a bid to end the war for Moslem self-rule that has left more than 60,000 people dead in 14 years.
'The MILF is trying to get attention because they were not included in the peace talks between Misuari and (President) Aquino in the peace talks in Jolo,' said Col. Aquino in the interview.
Col. Aquino said five guerrillas mounted the attack. Two entered the church to toss the grenade and three others armed with M-16 automatic rifles stayed outside. Security men of Salvador Mayor Ricardo Blis, who was attending the wedding, engaged the rebels in a firefight outside the church.
Church-run radio DXDD said a child of the mayor was one of those killed.
Witnesses said the Rev. Ben Huzon had just called on the wedding sponsors after reading the Bible when a loud explosion rang out inside the church packed with 400 to 500 people, causing a stampede.
'There was pandemonium as people began looking for exits,' said Aurora Bernante, 41, a school teacher. 'I was lucky because I was near the church door. 'It was only later that I learned that I was hit in the right leg.'
Officials said the bride, Virgie Caburnay, was wounded but the groom was unhurt. The priest was among the wounded.
It was the second grenade attack inside a church in the Philippines. On Easter in 1981, three grenades were hurled inside the San Pedro Cathedral in the southern port city of Davao, killing 22.
