A powerful bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle exploded and hit the passing convoy of a vice mayor today in the southern Philippines, killing three people and wounding at least five others, military officials said.
The blast struck the two-vehicle convoy of Isabela city Vice Mayor Abdulbaki Ajibon in Basilan province, killing her driver and another passenger and leaving the official stunned, provincial military commander Rolando Joselito Bautista said.
It was not immediately clear if the third fatality was a passenger in the convoy or a pedestrian.
The roadside blast damaged Ajibon's SUV and van and shattered windows in nearby houses, Bautista said, adding the explosion occurred in front of the house of Isabela City Mayor Cherrylyn Santos-Akbar.
It was not immediately clear who was the target. The vice mayor came from the city hall and was apparently going to a meeting with the mayor, police said.
Investigators were trying to identify the attackers and their motive, but Abu Sayyaf militants were among the initial suspects because of their long history of deadly bombings and other attacks in predominantly Muslim Basilan, where the al-Qaida-linked group first emerged in the early 1990s.
The Abu Sayyaf has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and the Philippines for deadly bombings, extortion, kidnappings for ransom and beheadings.
