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. 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. 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.
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.