Six killed, 40 wounded in four explosions in Mindanao

Manila: Six people were killed and 40 were injured in four separate bomb blasts at three different locations in the southern Philippines hotbed of Islamist separatists and communist insurgents in Jolo, officials said.

Six people were killed and 26 injured when a bomb, left inside a car parked near an army vehicle, exploded near Mount Carmel Church on Sanchez Street in Jolo, on Tuesday, Superintendent Jose Bayani Gucela, regional spokesman of the Philippine National Police, said in a radio report.

Seven of the wounded suffered shrapnel injuries, said Gucela, adding that the death toll could rise because many of the wounded were in critical condition.

Policemen later detected two other bombs inside a carton on a motorcycle parked 100 metres away from the church. Classes in the nearby Notre Dame School were suspended following the incident.

In another attack, ten people including two soldiers were wounded when a bomb placed inside a car parked near an army cruiser, exploded in Iligan City, Chief Superintendent Danilo Empedrad, director of Northern Mindanao region police, said in a report.

Elsewhere, the near-simultaneous explosion of two bombs destroyed a tower of the National Transmission Corp (Transco) in upper Paiton area of Kauswagan town, in Iligan del Norte, said Vincent Cariaga, the district manager of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines in Lanao.

Sources said five people were injured in the incident.

Several unexploded bombs were found in the vicinity, Cariaga said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The Al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf which is still holding Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni captive is based in Jolo.

The military blamed the Special Operations Group, a rogue faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as responsible for the attack but the MILF issued a prompt denial.