Death toll in Philippine hotel blast rises to three

Zamboanga: Police sifting through the rubble of a southern Philippine hotel hit by an apparent bomb attack found one more body pinned under the debris Monday, raising the death toll to three.

Police said they had also found traces of chemicals used in making improvised bombs in the ruins of the Atilano Pension House, hours after the Sunday night blast in the port of city of Zamboanga on Mindanao island.

"We found one more body under the debris, and we are doing everything we can to catch those behind this attack," said city police chief Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo.

At least 27 injured

He said 27 other people sustained injuries from the explosion, which ordnance experts said came from one of the hotel's 35 rooms.

The force of the blast destroyed the upper floor of the two-storey building, while a fire that followed the explosion quickly razed the ground floor, AFP journalists at the scene said.

De Ocampo said initial investigations showed the explosion was likely caused by an improvised bomb, although no group had yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Target

The city of Zamboanga has been the target of frequent bomb attacks, often carried out by extremists and armed gangs operating in surrounding areas or nearby islands.

In late-October, a bomb killed two people in a roadside eatery in Zamboanga.

Al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants operate just across the strait on nearby Basilan island, from where they often carry out kidnappings and bomb attacks.