Three reported dead, 15 injured in Cotabato City blast

COTABATO (AFP) - A seven-year-old boy was killed and 17 other people were wounded when a home-made bomb exploded in a bus terminal in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato on Friday, police said.

About half of the casualties were children, including the boy who died after being rushed to hospital, police Senior Superintendent Panares Adap said.

Panares said he did not believe the attack was politically motivated.

Another police spokesman, Senior Inspector Wally Casuyo, said an unidentified man left a bag containing the bomb at the terminal of Weena Bus Lines just before it exploded.

Casuyo said extortion was the likely motive for the bombing as the bus company had been receiving letters from armed groups demanding money.

The central region of the southern island of Mindanao has been hit by seven bombing incidents this year, many of them blamed on Muslim extremists with ties to the Jemaah Islamiyah or Al-Qaeda terror networks.

The last bombing in Cotabato City occurred on April 18 when a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded prematurely, killing the suspected bomber.

Earlier this month, a bomb went off in a crowded marketplace in nearby Tacurong town, killing eight people. Jemaah Islamiyah are suspected to have planted the bomb.