Philippines: Two arrested after shopping centre blast

Two men were arrested today on suspicion of setting off a bomb in a busy shopping centre in the Philippines, police said.

The blast, which killed one person, is believed to be related to an extortion racket.

The explosion in Kidapawan city last night left seven other people injured, including two employees at the centre’s baggage counter and a 16-year-old girl, authorities said.

The two men were arrested based on eyewitness accounts, said police Senior Superintendent Lester Kamba.

“In our initial investigation, it came out that the attack has something to do with extortion,” he said.

North Cotabato provincial Governor Jesus Sacdalan said it appeared explosives were placed in a bag left at the baggage counter.

“There were witnesses that testified the bag ... was owned by one of the suspects,” he said. “There was a baggage number recovered from them and their baggage was the only (one) missing at the mall’s counter.”

Mayor Rodolfo Gantuanco said a man called him to claim responsibility for the blast on behalf of the Al-Khobar extortion gang, which has links to Muslim militants and has been blamed for several bombings in the south in recent months.

Kamba said one of the two men in custody was a relative of a suspect arrested after a bus explosion in southern Tacurong city that injured three people in July.

In August, one man was killed and 12 others injured in the bombing of another bus in Koronadal city that was also blamed on extortionists.

Last month, a twin bomb attack in Kidapawan left two people dead and about two dozen injured.