Vintage mortar kills 4, wounds 2 in s. Philippines

MANILA, Aug 9 (Reuters) A World War Two mortar shell found on a seashore exploded in a fishermen's village in the southern Philippines today, killing four men and wounding two, police said.

Manuel Barcena, chief of police in Zamboanga City, said the explosion destroyed several houses on stilts in the Rio Hondo area of Zamboanga City.

The 81mm mortar shell was found by a group of fishermen on the shore and exploded when they tried to saw it to pieces to sell to metal scrap dealers.

''Four men were killed on the spot,'' Barcena told reporters, adding two others were rushed to a nearby hospital.

Hundreds of unexploded bombs and projectiles from the Second World War periodically surface across the Philippines, particularly in the capital Manila, one of the most badly bombed cities after Warsaw.

REUTERS GL BD1633