Two people have been killed and at least 24 others wounded in a bomb attack blamed on al-Qaeda-linked militants in the southern Philippines island of Jolo, military and police have said.

The island is a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels and local anti-terror task force chief Major General Juancho Sabban was quick to point the finger at the militant group.

"This is a signature bomb attack of the Abu Sayyaf," Sabban said, speaking on local radio. He said that the remotely-detonated bomb was hidden inside the seat compartment of a motorcycle parked outside a hardware store.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a string of bombings and kidnappings, most recently of three Red Cross workers in January.

The bodies of two people killed in the latest attack on Tuesday were taken to the Jolo provincial hospital, an official there said, while Sabban confirmed that 24 others were wounded, many of whom were listed in critical condition.

"The commercial district area was packed with people when the explosion happened," Sabban said on local radio. "All our doctors and nurses are already there in the area taking care of the victims."

Police identified the two fatalities as a 62-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man, while three police officers were among the wounded.

News of the attack comes after an additional report indicated a bomb inside a parked car in the southern Philippine city of Iligan had exploded wounding seven people, including two soldiers, police have said.

The bomb exploded barely two hours after the attack on Jolo island.

Navy spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo said the number of deaths connected to the Jolo island bombing could still rise. "Many of the wounded are in critical condition so there is a possibility that there will be more than two deaths," Arevalo told reporters.

Police said another bomb was found near the Mount Carmel Catholic cathedral, also in Jolo, and disarmed. General Saban meanwhile said a third suspicious package was also retrieved and safely detonated.

"We have cordoned off the area and setting up checkpoints," Sabban said.

Tuesday's bombing came just two days after another group of Islamic rebels, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), exploded a bomb outside a cathedral in Cotabato city, also in the south, on Sunday.

The number of deaths in that attack rose to six Tuesday, after one of the more than 50 people wounded died of his injuries in hospital.

Sabban said it was not clear whether the Abu Sayyaf attack on Jolo was linked with the MILF attack, although both groups were known to help each other in the past.

The Abu Sayyaf has been on the run from a military offensive launched after they kidnapped Italian aid worker Eugenio Vagni in January. A Filipina and a Swiss colleague abducted with Vagni were separately freed in April.

Vagni is believed to be being held hostage in the dense jungles of Jolo, and the 62-year-old has been in poor health, according to the government.

In May, the island province's governor Abdusakur Tan escaped a roadside bomb attack by the Abu Sayyaf that wounded five of his bodyguards.

AFP

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