MANILA, Sept 1: A powerful bomb packed with steel nails exploded on a passenger bus at a public terminal in the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding 26 others in a possible attack by an extortion gang, police said.

The blast in Digos city in Davao del Sur province occurred inside a bus owned by a company that has been targeted by extortionists in the past, said Superintendent Francisco Villaroman, the regional police intelligence officer.

The bomb placed in an overhead bin tore a hole in the roof of the bus and shattered its windows. The roof of the terminal also was damaged, Villaroman said.

“They placed the bomb overhead and packed it with nails obviously to cause more casualties,” Villaroman said by telephone from the scene.

Six people died and the wounded included several children, he said.

Regional police Chief Andres Caro said investigators were collecting debris and bomb fragments at the scene in an effort to reconstruct the device used in the attack.

Villaroman said a notorious extortion gang named Al Khobar had demanded 500,000 pesos (US$11,100) plus a 50,000 peso (US$1,100) monthly payment from the bus company in July. When the management refused, the extortionists bombed a bus in Digos on July 23, killing one person and wounding 32 others, he said.

The bombs used in the two attacks were packed with a similar type of steel nails, he said.

Al Khobar has been terrorizing bus companies and has been blamed for several bus bombings in the country’s southern Mindanao region. Officials say the group has ties to Muslim militants, who are active in the area.—AP