DAVAO, April 2: At least 15 people were killed and 50 others injured in a bomb explosion on Wednesday that ripped through a busy wharf in the southern Philippine city of Davao, officials said.

President Gloria Arroyo blamed “terrorists” for the blast, the second within a month in the commercial capital of the country’s troubled south.

She condemned the bombing as a “treacherous act” and ordered the military and police to launch a massive crackdown against the culprits.

The explosion went off near a row of food stalls and the passenger terminal at the Sasa wharf near Davao city, some 950kms south of Manila.

The Davao city medical centre said five people were killed on the spot while the others died at the hospital following the powerful blast.

Military officials said about 50 people were taken to hospitals with injuries. A security official said the blast appeared to have been caused by a powerful improvised explosive device.

“These terrorists will be hunted down and be made to face the full force of the law,” said Arroyo, who had recently expressed fears of terrorist reprisals for her government’s moral support for the US-led invasion of Iraq.

She described Davao as being in a state of “lawless violence” and ordered police and military to launch a massive crackdown, to include stepped up patrols and the setting up of checkpoints.

A witness said a man wearing a camouflaged uniform was seen loitering near the area before he left a black bag containing the explosive.

“I did not know what happened next. There was an explosion from the black bag,” said Melinda Relasyon, among the wounded.

Police and military troops immediately cordoned off the blast site as sniffer dogs and ordnance experts sifted for clues in the rubble.

The mangled remains of at least four victims were strewn on the ground, as ambulances wailed past to carry the injured to the hospital.—AFP