Bomb explodes in bus in Philippine south, 3 hurt

Manila, July 18: A bomb went off in a commuter bus near a crowded public market on the troubled south Philippine island of Mindanao today, wounding three people, an army general said.

The bus was parked at a terminal in Tacurong City when the blast occured at around noon, Major-General Raymundo Ferrer said.

''Three people were slightly injured,'' Ferrer told sources in a mobile phone text message, adding most of the passengers had left the bus when the bomb exploded.

''We could have had more casualties if the bomb went off much earlier. We were told the bus company received a warning about 10 minutes before the actual explosion.'' Ferrer said the warning came from a group called al-Khobar, a Muslim group engaged in extortion activities and blamed for similar attacks on bus companies in the south home to the largely Catholic country's Muslim minority.

Police said at least eight bomb-related incidents had been reported on Mindanao since April this year, blamed on either Islamic rebels or groups trying to extort money from bus operators in the south.

Last month, 10 people were killed when a bomb exploded inside a bus bound for Davao, Mindanao's business hub, as it was leaving its terminal. The deadly blast was blamed on Islamic militants with ties to Jemaah Islamiah, a regional terror network.

The Philippines is fighting a long-running Muslim insurgency in the south, which has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced 2 million.

Reuters>