Two people were killed and 31 wounded today when an unidentified attacker tossed a grenade outside a supermarket in Iligan city in the southern Philippines, police said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack which happened while thousands of troops were pursuing Muslim separatist rebels holding American and Filipino hostages for three weeks on Basilan island, also in the country's troubled south.
The victims of today's blasts included shoppers, passers-by and vendors. Two of those wounded were children.
Iligan, a largely Christian city of 300,000 people, lies about 300 km (185 miles) northeast of Basilan.
A number of grenade explosions have hit Iligan in recent years, causing several deaths. Police blamed terrorists - a term police generally use to refer to rebel groups - for most of the attacks.
Rebels belonging to the extremist Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are holding hostage three Americans and dozens of Filipinos in Basilan.
A rebel spokesman said earlier this week the group had beheaded one of the Americans but the military said it had not been able to confirm the veracity of the rebels' claim.