COTABATO (Philippines), Dec 24: A bomb planted in the residential compound killed 13 people, including a prominent Muslim mayor, in the southern Philippines on Tuesday.

Datu Piang Mayor Saudie Ampatuan was one of the 13 killed when a homemade bomb exploded during a party he was hosting in his compound on the southern Phillipine island of Mindanao, military spokesman Julieto Ando said.

Town councillor Rodolfo Wahab and 11 others were also killed, many of them dying of injuries in hospital. Another dozen people were injured, many seriously.

The incident comes barely a week after the mayor’s younger brother, Hoffer Ampatuan, was shot dead in a nightclub in an unrelated incident.

Ando said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels were likely behind the incident, citing their previous use of similar home-made bombs and their conflicts with the Ampatuans, a prominent Muslim political clan.

The bomb featured a timing device and two mortar shells, a hallmark of explosive devices constructed by the MILF.

Ando said a witness identified a follower of MILF “Commander Rambo” as having planted the bomb.

Maguindanao provincial Governor Andal Ampatuan, the father of Saudie and Hoffer, condemned the incident through his spokesman Nori Unas, but declined to name any suspects.

But Zamzamin Ampatuan, a nephew of the slain mayor and a director of the government’s Office on Muslim Affairs, said he suspected the MILF was involved.

“I am inclined to believe that the MILF knows something about this. Mayor Ampatuan has been very supportive of the military. He was a soft target of anti-government elements,” he said, noting previous MILF attacks on the Ampatuan clan.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied the group was involved in the attack as some of those killed and injured were relatives of MILF members.

“We suspect the attack was carried out by political opponents of the Ampatuan family,” he said, adding other Muslim armed groups might also be involved.

He said some individual MILF members might have personal disputes with the Ampatuans, but these were not so severe as to make them resort to killing.

The rebel group forged a ceasefire with the government last year to pave the way for peace talks. Sporadic clashes with the government continue despite a truce.

Ando said additional troops had been deployed in Maguindanao province amid reports the MILF were massing to take advantage of the incident.

The Ampatuan clan has urged the military to increase its presence in the south to thwart further MILF attacks.—AFP