Bomb Kills 15 in Busy South Philippine Market

A bomb exploded in a market packed with Christmas shoppers Sunday, killing at least 15 people, injuring 58 others and shattering a lull in terror attacks in the volatile southern Philippines.

The homemade bomb, concealed in a box, went off in the meat section of the market in General Santos, about 675 miles south of Manila. Officials immediately bolstered security in the predominantly Christian port city of 500,000 people, fearing more attacks.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said there was no way to justify “this heinous deed.”

No one claimed responsibility, and it was not yet clear whether terrorist groups were involved. Muslim and communist rebels both operate in the area.

The city had been largely tranquil since a bomb killed 15 people in a shopping mall in 2002, an attack authorities blamed on the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf and a separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Police Capt. Maximo Sebastian said three people were killed instantly by Sunday’s blast. Other victims died in hospitals.

“The market was packed with people because there were Christmas flea market stalls there, and the explosion was powerful,” Sebastian said.

Soldiers and police cordoned off the area, fearing more explosives might have been planted, said army Col. Medardo Geslani, who heads a regional anti-terrorism force. “We know they have long-standing plans. We pre-empt them most of the time, but there is no impenetrable area. There are times they can get through, and this time they really did,” Geslani said.

Sen. Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, criticized the military and police for failing to prevent the attack despite what he said was intelligence indicating a planned terror strike in the city.

The country’s south has suffered a rash of bloody terrorist attacks and mass kidnappings in recent years that largely have been blamed on Muslim extremists. Communist rebels have staged attacks on security forces, local officials and infrastructure.

The Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim organization that appears on a U.S. list of terror groups, claimed responsibility for a bomb that killed more than 100 people on a ferry leaving Manila in February.