A bomb attack on a bus has killed at least eight people and wounded 10 in the southern Philippines. Police have blamed the attack on an extortion gang with links to Muslim militants.
The wounded were taken to hospitals near Matalam township in North Cotabato province.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Lt Col Cabangbang said authorities suspected the al-Khobar extortion gang.
Al-Khobar is the most notorious of the region’s extortion gangs, and authorities say it is made up of criminals and former Muslim rebels who have been blamed for attacking business establishments refusing to pay their ransom demands. The group is on a US list of terrorist organisations.
In April last year, two homemade bombs exploded hours apart on one bus, wounding the conductor and five passengers. A bomb exploded at a Cotabato city bus terminal in February the same year, wounding two people.
Troops last year captured a suspected al-Khobar leader, Mokasid Dilna, who allegedly trained with militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 1990s.
Military officials said he provided refuge to foreign militants and acted as a link with two local Muslim groups - the violent Abu Sayyaf and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been engaged in peace talks with the government.
Mohagher Iqbal, the chief negotiator for the Moro rebels, said his group had no involvement in the bombing.
“We have forces there, but not along the highway,” he said. “We will never get involved in matters like that.”
He said the bombing could be a result of business rivalry or extortion.
AP