Bomb Explosion

[pioneer]

A homemade bomb exploded Wednesday (July 18, 2007) in a bus in the southern Philippines, wounding three people in the latest in a series of attacks that police have blamed on an extortion gang in the region.

The bomb, set off with a cell phone, exploded shortly after all the passengers left the bus at a crowded public transport terminal in southern Tacurong city in Sultan Kudarat province, army Col. Danilo Garcia said.

The bomb badly damaged the rear portion of the bus and shattered its windows, wounding a passenger eating at a nearby food stall and two passers-by, including a child. Two elderly people fell to the ground during the blast but doctors said they were not injured, Garcia told reporters.

Acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales said the latest bombing was the kind of terror act that a new anti-terror law would try to stop, adding it may take some time before the law fulfills its full potential.

"The law has just been enforced," he said. "But these attacks have long been in the planning stage and part of a series of terror occurrence." <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/18/asia/AS-GEN-Philippines-Bus-Explosion.php>you can read the full report of the Associated Press HERE</a>

[G@Len]

taken from www.sunstar.com.ph