THREE PEOPLE were seriously injured and 21 others escaped with minor injuries after an unknown assailant set off a home-made bomb during Mass in a church in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, last Sunday.

Peter Madeso, the parish priest of St Francis Church, Kanengo, a populous township outside the capital, said he heard an explosion around 8.45 a.m. while he was presiding over Mass.

"There was general pandemonium with people running in all directions," he said.

More than 800 people were gathered for Mass at the time of the incident.

The bomber, whose motives remain unknown, fled the scene.