Suspected blast kills at least 3 during mass

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 Mindanao 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. At least two of the wounded were fighting for their lives, Mandangan said. “This is clearly an act of terrorism. It’s not a simple feud between two people. A bomb will kill everybody around,” Mandangan said.