A homemade bomb hidden under a motorcycle killed at least one person and wounded more than 30 at a local street festival in the southern Philippines on Monday (August 27), police and the army said, the latest unrest in a region prone to militancy.
The explosion took place in front of a restaurant on a highway in Isulan in Sultan Kudarat province, which have been plagued by decades of Maoist and Islamist rebellions that have given rise to banditry and extremism.
According to initial reports, one person was killed, one critically injured and 34 others wounded, said provincial police chief. Radio station DZRH reported multiple fatalities.
Islamic State claimed responsibility, which the military disputes, suspecting that a local group was behind it, with the intended target civilians in an urban area.
Sultan Kudarat province is on the Philippines’ second-largest island, Mindanao, which remains under martial law until the end of the year.