Bombs ripped through the main shopping district of a mostly Christian city in an area of the southern Philippines at the heart of a Muslim insurgency yesterday, killing six and wounding about 150.
It was the second major bomb attack in Southeast Asia in less than a week and suspicion immediately focused on a radical Muslim group also being investigated for Saturday's explosions on the Indonesian island of Bali, in which more than 180 people died.
Shouts of "There's a bomb," "Another explosion," "Run ... Run" rent the air in the city of Zamboanga as terrified shoppers and shopkeepers ran on to narrow streets littered with wreckage, glass and mutilated bodies from the twin midday blasts.
Troops found and defused at least two other bombs.
The military blamed radicals fighting for an Islamic state in the south of the Roman Catholic nation and said investigators were looking into the possible involvement of the militant Jemaah Islamiah group.
"All threat groups are suspect in this incident, including the Jemaah Islamiah... and others," armed forces deputy spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Danilo Servando told reporters in Manila, referring to the Indonesia-based group linked by some to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
The twin explosions in Zamboanga came amid a heightened security alert across the country after the Bali bombings, in which Jemaah Islamiah is also suspected of playing a role.
Police said they were questioning 16 people, including two Turkish nationals and a Malaysian, over the Zamboanga explosions.
Asked if Muslim extremist groups might be involved, Zamboanga Mayor Maria Clara Lobregat said: "Most probably. They are the only ones who would do this. One can only weep at what these terrorists have done."
She said six people were killed and that at least 20 of the 143 injured were in critical condition. The dead included at least three women and a child. One man's head was blown off.
Zamboanga has been the scene in recent years of bombings blamed on the Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, whom the US has linked to al-Qaeda, prime suspect in last year's Sept. 11 attacks on the US.
Police said no foreigners were hurt in the blasts.
The first bomb, which exploded around noon local time in the Shop-o-Rama mall, wrecked cars, flung motorcycles down the street and tore open shuttered shops.
Police cordoned off the streets around the shopping complex where bunting hung incongruously under the baking sun.
Heavily armed troops then ringed the area as investigators brought in sniffer dogs to check for further explosives.
Investigators said the first blast occurred in or near the vegetable section of the crowded Shop-o-Rama, one of the most popular malls in Zamboanga. Thirty minutes later, an explosion rocked a store nearby.
Police found two other bombs in the area and detonated them.
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