6 killed, over 40 injured in bombing at restaurant in southern Philippines
Most of the victims are doctors and salesmen who attended a convention in Cagayan de Oro
Six people were killed and more than 40 wounded in the Philippines when a bomb struck a restaurant filled with doctors after a national convention, police said yesterday.
The bomb went off around midnight at a popular restaurant in the southern port city of Cagayan de Oro.
Most of the victims were doctors and pharmaceutical salesmen who had just attended a national convention of lung-disease specialists that was held at a nearby hotel, said city police chief Senior Superintendent Graciano Mijares.
"This is one of the busiest areas of Cagayan de Oro. Somebody left a bomb on a chair at the bistro," he said. He declined to speculate on the motive for the bombing, saying an investigation was under way.
Cagayan de Oro is on the main southern island of Mindanao, which has been blighted by a decades-old rebellion by elements of the large Muslim minority in the mainly Catholic Asian nation.
Local businessman Noel Arcenas, who owns an electronics shop at the shopping complex where the restaurant is located, said at least 100 people were inside the bistro when the explosion occurred.
"I felt, then heard the blast," said Arcenas, who added he was standing about 15 metres away.