Two dead in Kidapawan blasts

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Two people were killed, including a child  and 26 people injured yesterday in two bomb blasts in the southern Philippines, the military said.

The bombings occurred within minutes of each other in Kidapawan City on Mindanao island.

The first bomb exploded under a crowded minibus killing an eight-year-old girl and injuring more than a dozen people, local brigade Army commander Col. Pedro Soria told AFP.

The fatality, Honey May Loazada, was with her mother near the spot where  the multi-cab was parked.

He said a second bomb, planted at the side of the road near to the vehicle, exploded a few minutes later.

   “We already have a suspect in custody,” he told AFP without elaborating further.

City police arrested a 20-year-old man whom witnesses saw ran away from the vicinity of the Sheer Marketing in Kidapawan seconds before a bomb exploded in front of the establishment.  – AFP, John Unson, Roel Pareño