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American among 18 killed in Philippines blast

Ap
Monday 03 March 2003 20:00 EST
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A powerful explosion outside an airport in the southern Philippines today killed at least 18 people and injured 100 others, authorities said. One American was reported killed and three others were injured.

The blast rocked the Davao airport on the island of Mindanao.

"It was a very, very loud explosion," said Terry Labado, an airport official. "We rushed out of the building to see where the explosion happened. We saw many dead," she said.

An airport security official, who did not want to be identified, said the explosion rocked the front of the terminal building, smashing windows and causing considerable damage.

"It happened ... a few minutes after a Cebu Pacific flight arrived and people packed the waiting area. There were many people killed. I saw six persons killed on the spot," the official said.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible. The military has blamed Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels for a string of attacks, including one car-bomb explosion at Cotabato airport, following a government offensive that led to the capture of a rebel stronghold on the island last month.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo "strongly condemns the Davao bombing as a brazen act of terrorism which shall not go unpunished."

In a separate incident, an explosion injured two people in Tagum, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Davao.

The rebels have been fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the impoverished southern Philippines for three decades.

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