Grenade attack injures 37 in Philippines: police

A grenade attack at a packed circus show injured at least 37 people in the troubled southern Philippines, police said Sunday.

The blast in Davao city was apparently meant to strike an army camp but the grenade bounced off netting and landed inside an adjacent basketball gym where a circus was being held late Saturday, police said.

"It bounced when it hit a net barrier of the camp and exploded inside the gymnasium," local police chief Superintendent Ronald dela Rosa said.

At least 37 people were hurt but none of the injuries were life-threatening, he said.

It was not yet known who carried out the attack and why, but communist and Muslim insurgents are known to operate in the area and have been blamed for similar incidents in the past.

Davao city is on Mindanao island in the southern third of the mainly Catholic Philippines where deadly insurgencies have raged for decades.
 

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