Ozamis mosque strafed

ILIGAN CITY - Unidentified men armed with M-16 Armalite rifles strafed a mosque in an island in Ozamis City Saturday night, authorities said yesterday.

Police said no one was reported killed or wounded when the mosque on Turtle Island in Tinago district was strafed at about 10 p.m. Saturday.

Local officials allayed fears that the strafing incident and the fatal stabbing of a Maranao in the city's "annex area" were retaliatory acts for the explosion aboard a ferry last Friday.

Explosives rigged in two buses traveling aboard the M/V Our Lady of Mediatrix went off shortly after the boat was to dock in Ozamis. At least 45 people were killed.

Ozamis councilor Reynaldo Parojinog said the strafing and stabbing incidents were "remote and petty crimes" and "have no connection whatsoever" with the bombing.

In Marawi City, police and local government officials held a dialogue to defuse tension between Christians and Maranaos which the Ozamis bombing might trigger.

Representatives of Marawi Mayor Omel Basman asked Ozamis officials, through the Misamis Occidental Movement for Peace and Order, to thwart violent incidents between Christians and Maranaos.