Philippine police hunt bombers after market blast

Philippine police look for evidence after a bomb attack at a market in General Santos,on Mindanao island, southern Philippines. Picture / Reuters

UPDATE - MANILA - Philippine police were searching for clues on Monday on who was responsible for a bomb blast in a market packed with shoppers that killed 14 people and wounded 65.

They said Muslim militants were among the suspects for Sunday's attack at the main market in southern General Santos City, but said a local kidnap gang and a feud between shop-keepers were also being investigated.

"We are not discounting a possible terrorist attack," Chief Superintendent Antonio Billiones, the region's police chief, told reporters.

"There are many possibilities including rivalry among market vendors." Witnesses said the bomb could have been placed inside a travelling bag which was left by a man who bought meat at one of the shops in the market when it was packed with afternoon shoppers.

The man said he would return to claim the bag after a while. Thirty minutes later, an explosion ripped through the meat shop.

Shoppers and merchants fled the market in panic after the blast and police cordoned off the area.

A radio station reported it received an anonymous text message claiming responsibility for the attack to avenge the death of a member of the Pentagon kidnap gang a week earlier.

Pentagon is a group that has been placed on the US state department's terror watchlist since 2002.

General Santos City is in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, where Muslim rebel groups and several bandit gangs operate. Muslims make up only about 5 per cent of the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines' 82 million people but live mostly in Mindanao.

However, city Mayor Pedro Acharon earlier dismissed talk that the attack was the handiwork of Muslim militants or the kidnap gang, saying he had received reports that two groups of stall owners were fighting for control of the public market.

"We have been on alert because we learned about a plan to burn the market four days ago," he told reporters. "This will hurt the city's efforts to attract investors and tourists."

Eid Kabalu, spokesman of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, denied his group's involvement in the explosion and supported the theory raised by the city mayor.

Police said the last major bomb attack in the city killed 15 and injured dozens when an improvised explosive device ripped through a crowded shopping mall in April last year.

That attack was blamed on the Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebel group, but security officials say the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah planned, financed and directed the bombing.

- REUTERS