ZAMBOANGA (Philippines), Jan 1: A grenade lobbed into a crowd of New Years revellers injured 22 people, the army said on Thursday.

In the capital Manila and in nearby suburban areas, a child was killed by a stray bullet while 346 people were wounded by powerful firecrackers set off to welcome 2009, the police and the health department said.

Army Captain Emmanuel Garcia, head of a military security task force, said an unidentified man threw the grenade into the crowd at a park in the city of General Santos on Mindanao island late on Wednesday.

“Twenty-two people are wounded in the grenade explosion and they have been rushed to hospitals,” he said.—AFP