NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — A fruit vendor was killed while five others, among them commuters, were hurt in an explosion that hit a bus in Tulunan town at noon on Wednesday.
Police Col. Henry Villar, director of the North Cotabato provincial police, said investigators and ordnance experts are still sifting through the blast scene.
The fatality, Gina Paunan, succumbed to shrapnel wounds while being rushed to a hospital.
Initial reports reaching the office of North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco indicated that the explosive went off along a stretch of a highway in Barangay Sibsib, Tulunan while a unit of the Yellow Bus with body number 2988 was passing by.
Catamco said her office will provide immediate assistance to the injured Rodel Secur, Kent Sendero, Ryan Panibayo, Eduard Odango and Ritchie Pedroso, now confined in a hospital.
"I condemn this bomb attack. This is an act of terror. My administration shall help the police put closure to this incident," said Catamco, chairperson of the North Cotabato provincial peace and order council.
The incident was preceded by a roadside bombing in South Upi town in Maguindanao on Tuesday morning that killed a motorist, Alberto Delos Santos, and hurt a companion, Loreto Palma.