Bomb in southern Philippines kills 5

MANILA, Jan 10 (Reuters) A bomb in a public market killed five people and wounded dozens in the southern Philippines today, days before Asian leaders were due to arrive for a regional summit in the centre of the country.

Police said the blast occurred around 1530 IST in General Santos city, a trade hub in the restive south, where Muslim and communist insurgents are fighting long-running rebellions.

''It is premature to blame the attack on any group. We are still investigating,'' said regional police chief German Doria, adding the crude bomb was left on the side of a road near a crowded lottery outlet in the market.

Doria said they were checking reports of a second bomb at a nearby grocery store.

Western governments had warned that militants could bomb a summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a wider meeting of East Asian leaders on January 13-15 in the central Philippines or attack cities in the south.

Manila, which holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, had postponed the original summit last month, ostensibly due to a typhoon but days after the Australian, U S and British embassies warned terrorists would try to disrupt it.

Philippine police said there was no specific threat in the central island of Cebu, guarded by around 13,000 police and soldiers, but put the entire country on high alert.

Doria said the bombing might have been retaliation by local Muslim terror group Abu Sayyaf for recent military killings of some of its senior members.

He also said Abu Sayyaf might have planted the bomb to divert the military's focus on flushing them out of the remote southwestern island of Jolo.

At least 7,000 soldiers and some U S military advisers are on Jolo, a sprawling, mountainous island, to combat the Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines' most dangerous militant group.

REUTERS KD HT1728