Blast kills nine people in Philippine south

MANILA, June 15 (Reuters) At least nine people were killed and an undetermined number wounded when a crude bomb exploded inside a packed commuter bus in the southern Philippines today, a police chief said.

Sherwin Butil, police chief in Bansalan town on the southern island of Mindanao, said the bomb went off as the bus was leaving a terminal at about 1530 hours.

''No group has claimed responsibility for the attack,'' Butil told reporters. ''We're still investigating whether Muslim militants or criminal groups engaged in extortion were behind the bombing.'' Thirty minutes earlier, a bomb went off in another bus at a terminal in Cotabato City. There were no casualties because all the commuters had left the bus before the blast.

Police said three people were killed and 35 wounded when a crude bomb exploded at the same bus terminal in Cotabato City on May 18. That attack was blamed on a criminal gang.

On June 8, at least 10 people were wounded when two explosions ripped through a bus owned by the same transport company in Matalam, also on Mindanao island.

REUTERS SLD KP1706