MANILA: A bomb ripped through a passenger bus Thursday in the southern Philippines, killing at least 10 people and wounding nine in an attack authorities say may have been carried out by an extortion gang with links to Muslim militants. The bus was traveling with more than 50 passengers when the powerful blast shook the rear of the vehicle from the overhead compartment, police Chief Superintendent Gil Meneses said. The force of the explosion was so strong it decapitated two of the victims, he said. Ten people, including the bus conductor, died in the blast in Matalam township in North Cotabato province, said police spokeswoman Senior Inspector Joyce Birrey. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. The southern Philippines is home to kidnappers, extortion gangs and a decades-old Muslim insurgency. President Benigno Aquino III condemned the bombing and ordered police to step up security at possible terrorist targets. Manila seeks talks The Philippine government announced a new team of negotiators Thursday for peace talks with communist guerrillas, saying that ending one of Asia's longest and bloodiest Marxist insurgencies will be tough but possible. Norway has agreed to continue brokering the talks between the Philippines and the Maoist rebels. Government negotiators will try to break a six-year impasse and seek informal meetings with the rebels this year, said Alex Padilla, a human rights lawyer who was appointed chief government negotiator. Presidential peace process adviser Teresita Deles said the creation of the five-member negotiating panel headed by Padilla was a major step in government efforts to tame the 41-year rebellion. She added that “the journey to peace will not be easy.” More than 120,000 combatants and civilians have died in the rural-based rebellion that has afflicted nearly all of the Philippines' 81 provinces. It is considered to be the impoverished Southeast Asian nation's most serious security threat and a major obstacle to economic development. The Philippines also has been grappling with Muslim rebels and al-Qaida-linked militants in its volatile south.
