Cotabato (Philippines): Four people were killed and 17 others wounded on October 3 in a grenade attack on a packed mosque on the Southern Philippine island of Mindanao, officials said.

Unidentified suspects hurled at least two grenades into the mosque, inside a government compound in the town of Midsayap, during Friday prayers, Chief Inspector Eduardo Marquez said.

Regional Military Chief Major General Generoso Senga said four people had been killed and 17 injured, revising upwards an earlier toll.

Most of the casualties were employees of the National Irrigation Administration, which owns the compound.

Among the fatalities was Islamic preacher Ismael Datu Kali - who had been presiding over the prayers - and Regional Irrigation Director Macmod Mending, who died of his wounds on the way to the hospital, Marquez said.

Irrigation Agency employee Luciano Cadungog said he was in another building in the compound when he heard a loud explosion.

He rushed to the mosque to find some of the victims lying in pools of blood while other people were running out of the mosque in terror.

Two grenade pins found at the door of the mosque indicated that the bombers had hurled the explosives from there.

Police have established that at least one suspect was seen talking to several worshippers inside the mosque immediately before the explosion, Marquez said.

Agencies