JOLO, Philippines -- A powerful explosion wounded at least 20 people late Saturday in a karaoke bar near a Philippine army camp on southern Jolo island where American troops are staying for joint war exercises, witnesses and officials said.A U.S. military spokesman, Lt.-Col. Mark Zimmer, said there were no American casualties in the blast and that the incident would not hamper the two-week joint counterterrorism manoeuvres that are to start Monday and focus on humanitarian projects. ''There was no American casualty but we're investigating,'' Zimmer said.
Security is a top concern during the exercises because of the presence of al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf guerrillas on Jolo, about 940 kilometres south of Manila. The guerrillas have kidnapped Americans in the past and threatened to attack U.S. troops in the country. ''There is no change in plans for what they're doing down there,'' Zimmer told The Associated Press by telephone from southern Zamboanga city, where other U.S. troops involved in war manoeuvres and joint training are based.
The blast occurred on the day about 250 American troops were welcomed by local officials in a ceremony on Jolo. They are to take part in ''Balikatan,'' an annual joint war exercise between American and Filipino troops that has focused in recent years on counterterrorism manoeuvres. The exercises this year are being held simultaneously in Manila and a number of other venues, including on Jolo, where Americans would mainly provide dental treatment for poor villagers, construct classrooms and give away medicines and books, officials said.
Col. Domingo Tutaan of the Philippine military's Southern Command said authorities were investigating what caused the blast and who was responsible. Witnesses said it was so powerful that it caused part of the bar's roof to collapse and portions of its concrete wall to crumble.
Those wounded were mostly drinking men and female entertainers at the bar, which was near the gate of the Philippine army's 104th Brigade headquarters, where U.S. troops are encamped under heavy guard, according to witnesses.
Security for the Americans and opposition to the war drills by Muslim villagers have been nagging concerns on Jolo, labelled a ''no man's land'' due to a surfeit of unlicensed guns, frequent bloodshed and a bitter history with American forces. Muslim activists still cite a violent U.S. campaign to quell restive native insurrectionists resisting U.S. rule in the early 1900s.
The Philippine military has been struggling to wipe out the Abu Sayyaf - at times with covert U.S. non-combat assistance - on Jolo, but a few hundred mountain-based guerrillas have endured numerous offensives and continue to threaten the impoverished island and nearby regions.