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Blast wounds 8 people at public market in southern Philippines
- The explosion comes at a time of heightened tensions in the volatile region after three suspected suicide bombings linked to Islamic State
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An explosion at a public market in the southern Philippines wounded at least eight people early on Saturday, the fourth blast in that area in 13 months, the military said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but a militant group operating in the mostly Christian city of Isulan in the province of Sultan Kudarat was among the suspects, the military said.
The latest blast comes at a time of heightened tensions in the volatile southern Philippines after three incidents in the past year authorities said were suicide bombings by militants linked to Islamic State.
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Video footage showed Saturday’s blast occurred in a parking space for motorcycles. A suspected improvised explosive device was placed beside a parked motorcycle, Major Arvin Encinas, a regional military spokesman, told reporters.
The bombing occurred hours before a scheduled ceremony in nearby Maguindanao province to start the decommissioning of 12,000 fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which signed a peace agreement with the government in 2014.
The MILF had been fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern region of Mindanao since the late 1970s, but agreed to accept autonomy after decades of negotiations.
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