New Year bomber kills nine

Nine people were killed in a New Year’s Eve grenade attack in the southern Philippines, including a 14-year-old.

At least 32 others, most of them New Year’s revellers, were injured when an unidentified man tossed a grenade at a crowded roadside stall selling firecrackers in the city of Tacurong in Sultan Kudarat province on southern Mindanao island.

No one has claimed responsibility, but authorities have blamed the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front for a series of bomb attacks and an ambush that have killed 30 people and injured dozens in the southern Philippines in the last two weeks.

The rebels, who have been fighting for three decades for Muslim self-rule in the region, have denied being involved.

Witnesses said about 50 customers were at the stall buying firecrackers when the blast occurred around 9pm (1pm Irish time) at the city’s busy square. Four people died instantly, including a 14-year-old.

It was the fifth bombing in central Mindanao since Christmas Eve, when a home-made bomb killed the mayor of Datu Piang town and 16 others. Police said the MILF was behind that attack.

Tacurong is a mainly Christian agricultural city at the heart of Sultan Kudarat, next to Maguindanao province, where the MILF has many bases.