Philippines blast toll rises to 13

A bomb exploded today at a crowded market, killing at least 13 people, in the latest deadly attack in the southern Philippines, officials said.

About 26 others were injured in Koronadal city, said police chief Superintendent Danilo Posadas.

A second bomb was found two hours later and taken away by a police bomb squad.

Koronadal Mayor Fernando Miguel said the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group, which is on the US list of terrorist organisations, claimed responsibility.

In a radio interview, Miguel said a man identifying himself as Abu Solaiman of the Abu Sayyaf called him shortly after the 3.30pm (0830 BST) blast, warning of ”more bombings in the days to come”.

The man has been calling since last year demanding four million pesos (€70,000) monthly to “spare Koronadal city from bomb attacks”, the mayor said, adding that he had refused.

There was no independent confirmation that the call came from Solaiman, who has been linked to bombings in General Santos city farther south and is one of five Abu Sayyaf leaders with a €4.2m bounty offered by the US State Department for kidnappings and killings in the southern Philippines in 2001-02.

Posadas said an initial investigation indicated the bomb was fashioned from an 81 mm mortar shell. Police suspect the person who planted it died at the scene.

“Terrorists did it,” Posadas said, without elaborating.

The market was the scene of a similar bombing last month that killed two people. Police and the military blamed that attack on the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Today’s blast killed two female vendors and three passers-by immediately, and eight others died later at two local hospitals, officials said.

Col. Agustin Dema-ala, commander of the army’s 301st Infantry Brigade, said one of the five killed at the market was believed to have carried the bomb.

He said a witness saw a man placing a bag on the pavement in front of a glass supply store.

“It went off as he turned his back on it,” Dema-ala said, quoting the witness. “I think it was a premature explosion, but it is possible that it was rigged so that the one carrying it does not know when it will explode.”

He said an office of the National Bureau of Investigation was located in the market building, above where the blast occurred.

The area was crowded because it was market day for traders in Koronadal, capital of South Cotabato province, about 610 miles southeast of Manila.

About two hours after the bombing, residents reported to police a cylinder containing cooking gas abandoned in front of a fire station near the market. Police found a bomb with a timer attached to the cylinder and took it away to defuse it.

Provincial Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes condemned the bombing but appealed for calm.

“This is a tragedy. This is the work of terrorists,” she said.

The military says the MILF is known to make such mortar bombs.

The government has blamed the MILF for most of the bombings on the main southern island of Mindanao, including two blasts that killed 38 people in Davao city in March and April.

Eid Kabalu, spokesman for the MILF, said the rebels were not involved in the latest bombing.

“It is not the handiwork of the MILF because we do not attack civilians,” he said.