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I wonder if this means more American troops.
MANILA, Philippines - A powerful bomb hidden in a backpack exploded Tuesday at an airport in the southern Philippines, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 100, including three Americans, authorities said. The government called it a "brazen act of terrorism."
With many of the injured in serious condition, officials feared the death toll could rise.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast at Davao airport on Mindanao island. But the military has blamed Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels for a string of attacks, including a car-bombing at nearby Cotabato airport last month that killed one woman.
The dead included a boy, a girl, nine men and seven women, officials said.
Davao civil defense spokeswoman Susan Madrid said the explosion occurred at 5:20 p.m. local time as dozens of people waited for a plane to arrive.
"It was a very, very loud explosion," Terry Labado, an airport official said. "I saw bodies flying."
"We rushed out of the building to see where the explosion happened," she said. "We saw many dead."
An airport security official, who did not want to be identified, said the bomb rocked the front of the terminal building, smashing windows and causing considerable damage.
"It happened ... a few minutes after a Cebu Pacific flight arrived and people packed the waiting area. There were many people killed. I saw six persons killed on the spot," the official said.
Madrid said 18 people were killed and more than 100 were injured. One hospital alone reported 91 casualties.
Two Americans, Barbara Stevens, 33, and her 9-month-old son Nathan, were brought to Davao Doctors Hospital, hospital staff said. Another American, identified as William Hyde, was treated for multiple injuries at Davao Medical Center, Dr. Manuel Tan told The Associated Press.
TV footage showed the waiting stand in front of the terminal building wrecked by the blast, metal pieces strewn on the road. The injured included young children.
Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ordered all pharmacies and drug stores to remain open to supply medicine to the victims.
National Police Deputy Chief Edgar Aglipay told a Manila radio station that the explosion was caused by a bomb hidden inside a backpack.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites) "strongly condemns the Davao bombing as a brazen act of terrorism which shall not go unpunished," her spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
Arroyo called an emergency meeting of the Cabinet oversight committee on internal security later Tuesday.
Flights to and from Davao were suspended.
The Moro rebels have been fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the impoverished southern Philippines for three decades. Despite a 1997 shaky cease-fire, fighting has occasionally flared up.
In a separate incident Tuesday, an explosion in Tagum, north of Davao, injured two people, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero. He gave no other details.
With many of the injured in serious condition, officials feared the death toll could rise.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast at Davao airport on Mindanao island. But the military has blamed Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels for a string of attacks, including a car-bombing at nearby Cotabato airport last month that killed one woman.
The dead included a boy, a girl, nine men and seven women, officials said.
Davao civil defense spokeswoman Susan Madrid said the explosion occurred at 5:20 p.m. local time as dozens of people waited for a plane to arrive.
"It was a very, very loud explosion," Terry Labado, an airport official said. "I saw bodies flying."
"We rushed out of the building to see where the explosion happened," she said. "We saw many dead."
An airport security official, who did not want to be identified, said the bomb rocked the front of the terminal building, smashing windows and causing considerable damage.
"It happened ... a few minutes after a Cebu Pacific flight arrived and people packed the waiting area. There were many people killed. I saw six persons killed on the spot," the official said.
Madrid said 18 people were killed and more than 100 were injured. One hospital alone reported 91 casualties.
Two Americans, Barbara Stevens, 33, and her 9-month-old son Nathan, were brought to Davao Doctors Hospital, hospital staff said. Another American, identified as William Hyde, was treated for multiple injuries at Davao Medical Center, Dr. Manuel Tan told The Associated Press.
TV footage showed the waiting stand in front of the terminal building wrecked by the blast, metal pieces strewn on the road. The injured included young children.
Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ordered all pharmacies and drug stores to remain open to supply medicine to the victims.
National Police Deputy Chief Edgar Aglipay told a Manila radio station that the explosion was caused by a bomb hidden inside a backpack.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites) "strongly condemns the Davao bombing as a brazen act of terrorism which shall not go unpunished," her spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
Arroyo called an emergency meeting of the Cabinet oversight committee on internal security later Tuesday.
Flights to and from Davao were suspended.
The Moro rebels have been fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the impoverished southern Philippines for three decades. Despite a 1997 shaky cease-fire, fighting has occasionally flared up.
In a separate incident Tuesday, an explosion in Tagum, north of Davao, injured two people, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero. He gave no other details.
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