MANILA, Philippines (7th UPDATE) – An improvised explosive device (IED) explosion rocked Isulan town, the official provincial capital of Sultan Kudarat, as it celebrated its Hamungaya Festival on Tuesday, August 28.

The IED blast occurred at around 8:34 pm in Barangay Kalawag 3, in front of J and H Marketing along the national highway which passed through an area of the Isulan town proper where people flocked for ukay-ukay shopping, police said.

As of 11:55 pm Tuesday, one person was reported dead while 36 were wounded, police said.

A Wednesday morning, August 29, update said 2 died while 37 were hurt, according to Isulan police chief Superintendent Celestino Daniel.

Another wounded victim died however, bringing the total number of fatalities to 3 as of Thursday, August 30. Of the 36 wounded, 15 have been discharged from the hospital as of Thursday, police said. (READ: 7-year-old boy among dead after Sultan Kudarat blast)

One of the fatalities was identified as 52-year-old Lenie Ombrog. She was pronounced dead at the Holy Nazarene Hospital before midnight.

Among the wounded, 9 were taken to the Holy Nazarene Clinic and 20 others to the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Hospital.

Daniel told Rappler in a phone interview their initial probe points to the bomb being placed beneath a motorcycle parked in the area before it exploded.

Daniel added they still have no groups to name as behind the bombing, but added they are already pursuing leads on "a few people (ilang tao)."

According to Sultan Kudarat police deputy chief for operations Police Senior Inspector Arnel Ligada, the town is currently observing the Hamungaya Festival, which celebrates "maaliwalas na pamumuhay" (prosperous living).

The festival began on Monday, August 27, and is only set to conclude on Thursday.

A bomb reportedly exploded in a night market in front of Carlitos Restaurant in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat at 8:35PM. 34 patients were transported to 4 nearby hospitals and our chapter provided 5 units of blood for transfusion. pic.twitter.com/kHBtlEVZBh — Richard J. Gordon (@DickGordonDG) August 28, 2018

Our team is closely coordinating with the PNP on the incident and doing assessment on the ground. Keep safe everyone! pic.twitter.com/z3QfSZH5Jc — Richard J. Gordon (@DickGordonDG) August 28, 2018

– Rappler.com

</s>(3rd UPDATE) The improvised explosive device detonates at around 8:34 pm in Barangay Kalawag 3, Isulan town

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – An improvised explosive device (IED) explosion rocked Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat as it celebrated its Hamungaya Festival on Tuesday, August 28.

The IED blast occurred at around 8:34 pm in Barangay Kalawag 3, in front of J and H Marketing along the national highway which passed through an area of the Isulan town proper where people flocked for ukay-ukay shopping, police said.

As of 10:55 pm, one person is reported dead while 35 have been wounded.

Among the 35 wounded, 9 were taken to the Holy Nazarene Clinic and 20 others to the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Hospital.

According to Sultan Kudarat police deputy chief for operations Police Senior Inspector Arnel Ligada, the town is currently observing the Hamungaya Festival, which celebrates "maaliwalas na pamumuhay" (prosperous living).

The festival began on Monday, August 27, and is only set to conclude on Thursday.

Members of a combined military and police explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team were seen clearing the area as of posting.

A bomb reportedly exploded in a night market in front of Carlitos Restaurant in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat at 8:35PM. 34 patients were transported to 4 nearby hospitals and our chapter provided 5 units of blood for transfusion. pic.twitter.com/kHBtlEVZBh — Richard J. Gordon (@DickGordonDG) August 28, 2018

Our team is closely coordinating with the PNP on the incident and doing assessment on the ground. Keep safe everyone! pic.twitter.com/z3QfSZH5Jc — Richard J. Gordon (@DickGordonDG) August 28, 2018</s>MANILA: A homemade bomb hidden under a motorcycle killed two people, one a child, and wounded 37 at a local street festival in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, security officials said, the latest unrest in a region prone to militancy.

The explosion occurred in front of a clothing stall along a highway in Isulan in Sultan Kudarat province, where a festival was taking place.

An investigation was underway and there were no immediate claims of responsibility, according to police.

The province is on the Philippines' second-largest island, Mindanao, parts of which have been plagued by decades of Maoist and separatist rebellions that have given rise to banditry and the influence of the Islamic State group.

Arvin Encinas, spokesman of the army's 6th Infantry Division, said the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), an armed group that has pledged allegiance with Islamic State, was suspected of being behind the attack.

Mindanao remains under martial law until the end of the year following a five-month occupation Marawi City in 2017 by an alliance of rebels loyal to Islamic State, in which the military prevailed.

Hundreds of people were killed, mostly rebels and soldiers.

The latest bombing comes a month after a device was detonated in a van stopped at a checkpoint on the island of Basilan which killed 11 people, including four civilians.</s>A bomber who killed two people and wounded 35 at a town festival in the southern Philippines offered fruit to people in hopes of evading suspicion when he abandoned the bag that also contained the bomb, a Philippine military commander said Wednesday.

Wary residents still alerted police when the man hurriedly left the bag under a parked motorcycle near a night market, Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana told The Associated Press by telephone. Troops chased the man when villagers pointed to him but he fled on a motorcycle that had its engine already running in the chaos caused by the explosion Tuesday night in Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat province.

The bomb was made from a water pump, which shattered and blew steel fragments and motorcycle parts toward the night-market crowd, he said.

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The death toll rose to two, and the commander said at least one of those wounded in the bombing was in serious condition. The rest of Isulan’s founding anniversary festival was canceled, and authorities planned to meet Wednesday to discuss ways to strengthen the town’s security, Sobejana said.

The bomber remained at large, and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Authorities suspect a small armed group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which is aligned with the Islamic State group.

Philippine troops in the restive south have been on alert in recent weeks based on military intelligence that Muslim militants, suffering setbacks from battles with government forces, planned to carry out bombings in public areas.

A vehicle bombing on July 31 in southern Basilan province killed 11 people, including the suspected foreign militant who drove the vehicle. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility and identified the attacker as Moroccan. However, it cited a greatly inflated military death toll.</s>At least two people died and 37 others were injured when a bomb exploded late Tuesday during a celebration in the southern Philippines.

The bomb went off in a densely populated area in the town of Isulan in Sultan Kudarat province where a night market and other activities are being held this week at the Hamungaya Festival in commemoration of the town’s founding anniversary.

Based on an initial investigation, the bomb was placed on a motorcycle parked in the area and went off as a military truck passed by.

Two other improvised explosive devices were diffused nearby.

Among the injured were two army soldiers securing the area.

“It seems the enemies are targeting the security forces guarding the festival activity,” Captain Arvin Encinas of the Army’s 6th Division said as quoted by local media.

No one claimed responsibility for the bombing, though the town’s police chief, Superintendent Celestino Daniel, said an initial probe points to "a few people”.

Encinas also hinted that the Daesh-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) is the only group with “the strongest desire to initiate this kind of attack”.

The BIFF is a breakaway group of around 1,000 armed followers fighting for an independent Moro state, named after the region's indigenous Muslims in the south. Its members are mostly rag-tag rebels who engage in extortion, kidnapping, robbery and bombings.</s>MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippine military says the bomber who killed two people at a town festival offered fruit to people to evade suspicion when he abandoned a bag containing the bomb.

Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said wary residents still alerted police when the man hurriedly left the bag Tuesday night in Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat province. Troops chased the man when villagers pointed to him but he fled on a motorcycle that had its engine already running as the bomb exploded.

The commander raised the death toll from one to two Wednesday morning and said at least one of the 35 wounded was in serious condition.

Authorities suspect the Islamic State-aligned Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters was responsible. Intelligence reports recently said Muslim militants were planning bombings in public areas.</s>Manila, Aug 29 (IANS) Police in the Philippines island of Mindanao were on high alert on Wednesday after a bomb blast in a market in Isulan area killed two people and injured 36 others.

Isulan, capital of Sultan Kudarat province, was celebrating the “Hamungaya Festival” when a bomb exploded on Tuesday night at a market, Efe news reported.

“Effective this morning police units in Mindanao are on full alert status. This is the response until the completion of the martial law,” the state-owned Philippine News Agency quoted General Oscar Albayalde as saying.

Albayalde said the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which is affiliated with the Islamic State, has claimed to be behind the attack while further investigations are on.

Isulan Police Chief Celestino Daniel said that the attack had targeted government forces as the bomb exploded when an army convoy was passing through the area.

Three explosive devices were found in the area.</s>MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A bomber who killed two people and wounded 35 at a town festival in the southern Philippines offered fruit to people in hopes of evading suspicion when he abandoned the bag that also contained the bomb, a Philippine military commander said Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A bomber who killed two people and wounded 35 at a town festival in the southern Philippines offered fruit to people in hopes of evading suspicion when he abandoned the bag that also contained the bomb, a Philippine military commander said Wednesday.

Wary residents still alerted police when the man hurriedly left the bag under a parked motorcycle near a night market, Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana told The Associated Press by telephone. Troops chased the man when villagers pointed to him but he fled on a motorcycle that had its engine already running in the chaos caused by the explosion Tuesday night in Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat province.

“The man offered rambutan and other fruits as a diversion, to make it appear the content of his bag was harmless,” Sobejana said. The bomb was made from a water pump, which shattered and blew steel fragments and motorcycle parts toward the night-market crowd, he said.

The death toll rose to two, and the commander said at least one of those wounded in the bombing was in serious condition. The rest of Isulan’s founding anniversary festival was canceled, and authorities planned to meet Wednesday to discuss ways to strengthen the town’s security, Sobejana said.

The bomber remained at large, and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Authorities suspect a small armed group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which is aligned with the Islamic State group.

Philippine troops in the restive south have been on alert in recent weeks based on military intelligence that Muslim militants, suffering setbacks from battles with government forces, planned to carry out bombings in public areas.

A vehicle bombing on July 31 in southern Basilan province killed 11 people, including the suspected foreign militant who drove the vehicle. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility and identified the attacker as Moroccan. However, it cited a greatly inflated military death toll.</s>SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines: Philippine authorities were hunting on Wednesday (Aug 29) two men believed to have planted the explosives that killed two people, including a young girl, at a festival in the nation's south.

The blast late Tuesday in the town of Isulan, which wounded 35 others, is the second deadly bombing in less than in a month in the region where Islamist militants have waged a decades-long insurgency.

A man left the improvised bomb in a bag near a grocery store as crowds gathered to celebrate the town's founding anniversary but he and an accomplice escaped, the military said.

"One (man) did the emplacement while the other one (drove) the getaway motorcycle," Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana said, adding a manhunt was underway.

The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, is the latest violence in the south of the mainly Catholic archipelago where a long-running Islamist insurgency has left more than 100,000 people dead by government count.

Sobejana said it was "highly likely" that the pro-IS Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) plotted the bombing.

A military spokesman said the blast could have been in retaliation for offensives against the BIFF, adding the group had planned bomb attacks in parts of the southern region of Mindanao.

"They want to create and sow terror in the area," regional military spokesman Captain Arvin Encinas said, adding two soldiers were among the wounded.

The attack comes less than a month after a van bomb ripped through a military checkpoint on the neighbouring island of Basilan on Jul 31, killing 10 people.

IS claimed responsibility for that bombing as well and authorities believe the man behind the wheel of the explosives-laden van may have intended to target a nearby children's parade.

President Rodrigo Duterte put Mindanao under martial rule until the end of this year after pro-IS militants seized the southern city of Marawi last year.

On Wednesday, Duterte's aides condemned the bombing saying it could prompt the president to extend martial law in the area.

The recent blasts follow the Duterte government enacting a law to create greater autonomy for the Muslim minority in the south and which is hoped will help end the conflict.

The mother of the girl who died in Tuesday's bombing pleaded with authorities for justice.

"I hope they help us and catch the perpetrators," Nezel Alayon said in between tears.</s>"A bomb reportedly exploded in a night market in front of Carlitos Restaurant in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat at 8:35PM [12:35 GMT]. 34 patients were transported to 4 nearby hospitals and our chapter provided 5 units of blood for transfusion," Gordon wrote on Twitter.

The Philippine Red Cross team maintains contacts with police regarding the incident and is engaged in assessing the situation on the ground, Gordon added. Meanwhile, media reports suggest that one person was killed and 36 others were injured in the incident. The casualties were reportedly caused by the explosions of three improvised explosive devices planted in the area.

READ MORE: At Least 11 Killed After a Car Bomb Explodes in Southern Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte introduced the martial law on Mindanao in 2017 amid violent clashes in the area between the army and local militants, including those affiliated with the Daesh terror group.

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A suspected improvised explosive device planted by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters explodes at a town festival in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, Philippines, killing two people and injuring 35 others.