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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, May 11, 2003

Five Killed in Bomb Blast in Southern Philippines

At least five persons were killed and over 10 others injured in a bomb explosion at a public market in the southern Philippine city of Koronadal on Saturday, a television report said.


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At least five persons were killed and over 10 others injured in a bomb explosion at a public market in the southern Philippine city of Koronadal on Saturday, a television report said.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the explosion, the second in Koronadal in a month, the ABS-CBN news channel reported.

Security forces blamed last month's blast, which killed two persons, on the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which was held responsible for most of the bombings in the southern Philippines this year, including the bombings of an airport and a wharf that killed some 40 people in Davao city in March and April.

Earlier this week, the government suspended exploratory peace talks with the MILF, which had been slated for May 9-11 in Malaysia, and offered a bounty of 50 million pesos (950,000 US dollars) for the arrest of top MILF leaders after Sunday's MILF attack on the southern town of Siocon which left 28 people dead.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Saturday ordered a hardline campaign against the MILF, including a diplomatic offensive to persuade Islamic nations to stop backing the group.

"We shall combine military action, stringent legal measures, full diplomatic pressure and community preparedness to bear upon the MILF threat," Arroyo said in a radio address.

The 12,000-strong MILF, the biggest rebel group in the country,has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in the south since 1978.


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