[An Nahar] A powerful bomb went kaboom!at the center of the southern Philippines city of Cotabato on Monday, killing six people and wounding more than two dozen others, police said.
The bomb was placed in a vehicle -- either a cycle of violence or a van -- parked near a hospital and a school during the afternoon rush hour, city police chief Senior Superintendent Rolen Balquin said.
Cotabato photographer Mark Navales, who was on the scene within half an hour of the blast, described seeing a blood-spattered road strewn with charred bodies and smoldering vehicle parts.
"I saw three mangled human remains, one of them burnt," he told AFP.
"I have never before seen (the effects of) such a powerful blast in Cotabato," he added.
The attack came a month after after the United States, Australia and Canada warned their citizens against travelling to Cotabato and two other southern cities over fresh threats of terrorism.
Those killed were motorists passing through Sinsuat Street, the main highway in Cotabato that is lined by commercial establishments.
At least 26 others were maimed, including coppers in a vehicle that was passing through the area, he said.
No group immediately grabbed credit.
Mujiv Hataman, governor of a regional autonomous area whose office is 800 metres (2,625 feet) away from the blast site, said the kaboom rattled his windows and shattered a quiet afternoon just before Mohammedans were to end their Ramadan fast.
"That area has always been a busy street, full of traffic. There are a lot of establishments there and people come and go at all hours," he told Agence La Belle France Presse by telephone.
"The blast was heard kilometres away. It was powerful," he said.
The late-afternoon kaboom damaged at least four vehicles and triggered a fire that engulfed a nearby mortuary and a tyre repair shop, he added.