The death toll from a grenade attack in a village in the southern Philippines rose to four Thursday as one more person succumbed to injuries, officials said. More than 125 people were wounded in the Wednesday night attack during a festival celebrating a patron saint in the mostly Christian village of Notre Dame, near Cotabato City in the lawless south of the country. Cotabato is about 900 km south of Manila and in a region where Muslim nationalist fighters operate. (Read photo caption).

Only about five percent of the mostly Roman Catholic Philippines' 76 million people are Muslim and most of them live in the impoverished south of the country.

Muslim fighters, some of them allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden, have been battling the central government for years and about 1,000 U.S. soldiers are helping Philippine forces tackle the insurgents.

Colonel Bartoleme Baluyot told Reuters soon after the explosion that Muslim guerrillas were believed to be responsible.
But other police officials said two young men were detained overnight and were being questioned about an altercation with a band playing at the festival. The men had left the festival making threats, police said.

A series of bomb blasts 10 days ago in the city of General Santos, south of Cotabato, killed 15 people and wounded scores. The attack was claimed by a man who said he was a spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group.

Abu Sayyaf gunmen have been holding an American couple and a Philippine nurse hostage on the island of Basilan for over 11 months.

The Abu Sayyaf claims to be fighting for an independent Muslim state, but its activities appear concentrated on kidnap for ransom.

PHOTO CAPTION

Suspected Muslim rebels killed three people and injured almost 100 in the Philippines on May 1, 2002 when they hurled a grenade into a crowd of villagers celebrating the festival of a local patron saint, officials said. The attack was in the mostly Christian village of Notre Dame, near Cotabato City, which is about 560 miles south of Manila and in the midst of a region where Muslim rebels operate. (Reuters Graphic)