A homemade bomb exploded outside an air force base in the southern Philippines on Thursday, killing two people and wounding 19 others in a possible attack by al-Qaida-linked militants, police said, according to AP. The cell phone-detonated bomb was apparently concealed in one of several bags of civilian commuters waiting to hitch a ride on an air force C-130 cargo plane outside Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga city, police Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal said. A man and a woman, both waiting to get on the plane, were killed in the blast, police said. American troops providing counterterrorism training to Filipino soldiers were encamped at the air base, but none was injured, police said. Caringal said no one had claimed responsibility for the bomb, which also damaged three parked cars and a lawmaker's office in a two-story building across the street from the base. Two of the lawmaker's employees were wounded, including Voltaire Mahatol.
