Blast at Market in Southern Philippines Kills 13. Officials are issuing the standard denials of a link to Islamic terrorism.

MANILA (Reuters) - A huge explosion rocked the southern Philippine city of General Santos on Sunday, killing 13 people and injuring at least 60 at a public market, police and witnesses said.

Shoppers and merchants fled the market in panic after the explosion and police cordoned off the area.

“It could be a bomb,” said one policeman at the scene. “We’re waiting for the experts.” …

Police noted recent reports of threats by Muslim rebels from the Abu Sayyaf, a homegrown group linked to the regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI). But the mayor of General Santos said the blast could have been caused by feuding merchants.

Billiones said police has been getting intelligence reports, as early as September, on alleged plans by the Abu Sayyaf to bomb the city.

“I don’t want to speculate, at this point, on any group that could be behind the attack because there are so many rebel groups operating in the city,” he told reporters.

“It’s too premature to pin the blame the attack on any particular group at this time.”

But city mayor Pedro Acharon dismissed talk that the attack was the handiwork of terrorist groups, saying he had received reports that two groups of stall owners were fighting for control of the public market.

UPDATE at 12/12/04 8:46:07 am:

This report says it may have been a female suicide bomber.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — At least 15 people, one of them a five-year-old boy, were killed and 52 others wounded when a powerful explosion rocked a public market here packed with Christmas shoppers yesterday, military and police officials said.

Three people died on the spot, one of them a woman suspected to have been a suicide bomber, according to acting city police director Superintendent Willie Dangane, citing powder burns found on the woman.