MANILA, April 24 (Reuters) - Three members of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were wounded when a grenade exploded in front of their office on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, a police official said on Tuesday. Federico Dulay, police chief of North Cotabato province, said two men on a motorcycle were seen fleeing after the blast outside the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) office at about 7 p.m. (1100 GMT). "We're still investigating the incident to determine the motive for the attack," Dulay told reporters, adding it was the third blast in Mindanao's central region, a hotbed of Muslim insurgency against the central Catholic government since the late 1960s. "Three staff members of GEM-USAID, including two engineers, were brought to a clinic for treatment. They're out of danger now." Violence is rising in the south ahead of congressional elections on May 14. The three Filipino USAID workers were helping to feed hundreds of families who had fled their homes after supporters of two rival mayoral candidates exchanged gunfire. On Monday, the embassies of the United States, Australia and Canada issued travel advisories, warning their citizens not to travel to the Muslim south because of the threat of terrorist attacks.
