Five killed, 10 wounded, in Philippines bomb blast

A car bomb exploded in a public market in a southern Philippine town early today as a convoy carrying a provincial governor was passing, killing five people and wounding 10 others.

The governor, Andal Ampatuan, was unhurt, said local army commander Col. Felipe Tabas.

The bomb, which rocked the busy market in Shariff Aguak, in Maguindanao province about 560 miles south-east of Manila, was placed in or under a parked minibus loaded with fireworks, he said.

Among the five killed were two relatives of the governor, said provincial administrator Norie Unas. At least 10 other people were wounded, most of them passers-by.

The military’s Southern Command said the wounded included two children, both aged three.

Four of the dead came from one of the vehicles in the governor’s convoy, the military said. The fifth fatality was identified as Cajilo Datumanong, who was on a motorcycle when the bomb exploded. Datumanong was the nephew of Rep. Simeon Datumanong, a former justice secretary.

The report said the bomb was an 81mm mortar round with a battery pack used to ignite it. Many of the bombs used in past attacks were fashioned from mortar shells.

“From all indications, the governor was the target,” Unas said.

In December 2002, a bomb explosion killed the governor’s son, Saudi, who was the mayor of Datu Piang town. A year earlier, Ampatuan survived an assassination attempt when assailants opened fire on his convoy. That same year, he survived another ambush.

Ampatuan’s son, Zaldy, is the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which was created after a large Muslim separatist group signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996. A splinter group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has continued to wage a separatist rebellion, although it signed a cease-fire agreement three years ago amid ongoing peace talks.

Al-Qaida-linked militants also are active in the area.