The bomb, fashioned from an 81-mm. mortar shell with a timing device, went off in front of an agricultural supply store and the Koronadal satellite office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), said Col. Agustin Dima-ala, commander of the Army’s 301st Brigade.
It was the second bomb attack in the city in a month. A grenade attack in the same part of the city in April, also blamed on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), killed a barangay chairman and his bodyguard.
The MILF has been blamed for a series of bombings in mainly Christian cities in Mindanao since March, which have claimed at least 83 lives.
One of the fatalities in the market blast was identified as Milagros Garcia, a cigarette vendor standing in front of the NBI office.
Hospital officials and police said most of those wounded were ambulant vendors. Five of them are in critical condition.
Dima-ala claimed among the dead may have been the person responsible for the blast.
"Witnesses’ accounts disclosed that a man was seen carrying a box that exploded. The suspect could be one of the casualties," he said.
Initial reports quoted witnesses who said they saw a man leaving a bag on the sidewalk before it exploded.
South Cotabato police director Senior Superintendent Romeo Rufino said the explosion occurred about 3:40 p.m. during a rush-hour sale at the market.
"The explosion happened with a lot of people in the public market as market goers were rushing to avail themselves with the low prices of commodities in the market day," he said.
Rufino said they have eyewitnesses. "We hope to get a breakthrough in our investigation as to who are the perpetrators and mastermind of this senseless attack," he said.
Dima-ala insinuated the MILF might have carried out the bombing, pointing out the same method used by the rebels in creating bombs with timing devices out of mortar shells.
Police authorities, however, declined to name any group. "This might preempt our investigation and possible arrest of the culprit," Rufino said.
South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes has ordered local officials to conduct a thorough investigation into the bombing.
"We will have this (bombing) investigated extensively. We shall see to it that those responsible for this atrocity will be prosecuted," Fuentes said.
At Malacañang, President Arroyo ordered Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to make a progress report on the investigation of the bombing.
"As the Chief Executive, she (Mrs. Arroyo) has to enforce the laws. That means going after the perpetrators of this latest terrorist attacks by the MILF," Bunye said.
Mrs. Arroyo also ordered the military and law enforcement authorities to make a full documentation of cases of terrorism involving the MILF.
Following her decision to cancel the peace talks with the MILF in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday, Mrs. Arroyo said she will inform the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) of the atrocities committed by the MILF.
"We will not allow the MILF to continue fooling the Islamic world (that) it is an insurgent organization with legitimate aims. It is engaged in the murder of innocent civilians," Mrs. Arroyo said.
Mohaqer Iqbal, chairman of the MILF’s information committee, denied their participation in the Koronadal bombing.
"Local authorities should investigate first to determine the real culprit. The MILF has always been the whipping boy," he told The STAR.
Without mentioning any group, Iqbal claimed "a third force" could be behind the bombing with the aim of "polarizing Mindanao’s culturally diverse peoples."
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu also said the rebels were not involved in the bombing. "It is not the handiwork of the MILF because we do not attack civilians," he said.
Police intelligence reports indicated a group of unidentified men were sending threat letters to Mayor Fernando Miguel demanding P3 million "protection money" prior to the blast.
The mayor denied having received any threats of extortion. — With Roel Pareño, Marichu Villanueva, Mike Frialde, AFP