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Bomb explodes on bus in Philippines, 27 people injured

A homemade bomb ripped through a commuter bus in the southern Philippines yesterday, wounding 27 people, police said.

The military initially reported three people were killed, but police and army officials later corrected themselves and said there were no deaths.

The bus had stopped at a Digos city terminal on the way to the regional center of Davao. Moments after the driver returned and started the engine, the blast shattered the windows and some of the seats, provincial police chief Cesario Darantinao said.

Police recovered broken nails used as shrapnel, he said.

The owner of the bus company, who is also the mayor of a nearby town, had complained of extortion demands purportedly from communist rebels, Darantinao said.

But Oyo Uy, son of the mayor and president of the bus company, Metro Shuttle, said no extortion attempt had come from any group.

Among the 27 injured, four were in serious condition, Darantinao said.

Meanwhile, Muslim separatist guerrillas clashed with government militiamen yesterday despite a breakthrough in protracted peace talks, a local official said.

Farmers in the town of Aleosan in Mindanao saw members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) massing near their rice fields, prompting a brief firefight with the local militia, town mayor Loreto Cabaya said.

The firefight lasted around 15 minutes before the MILF withdrew with no casualties on either side.

In areas troubled by communist or Muslim insurgencies, the Philippine military trains and equips villagers to serve as militia units to provide security for their communities.

Cabaya said he suspected the rebels were after the rice harvest, as MILF forces are rarely seen in the area before harvest time.
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