Boy killed in Phillippines bus station blast
A five-year-old boy was killed and dozens of people wounded today wounded when a powerful bomb ripped through a teeming bus terminal in the Philippines.
The improvised explosive device was believed to have been left in a cluster of stalls near the main gate at the Weena Bus Terminal in Cotabato city, where many passengers were waiting to board buses, said Supt. Jomar Yap, police spokesman for the central Mindanao region.
"Witnesses heard a loud explosion from one of the stores," Yap said. " The victims, most of them passengers and pedestrians, were rushed to hospitals. Troops are now in the area. The entire city was placed on high alert."
Police said suspects included Islamic extremists who have been accused of involvement in previous blasts in the area or extortionists who launched earlier attacks against the bus company.
The bombing, which reportedly was heard two miles away, came barely a week after Australia and the United States warned their citizens of possible terror attacks in the Mindanao area.
