A powerful improvised bomb exploded Friday on a busy street in Cotabato City, southern Philippines, injuring one person, reported the Philippine News Agency.

Three improvised bombs were planted along the Makakua Street and two of them were disarmed by military bomb experts, said the report.

Police said the bomb that exploded at around 11:10 a.m. local time (0310 GMT), wounded a still unidentified passerby who was rushed to hospital following the incident. The blast also shattered the glass panes of a nearby restaurant.

The bombs were stuffed inside an empty carton of sardines and left on the street where many fast food restaurants were located and many people were walking, said the police.

Police said they had received intelligence reports earlier saying bombings were being planned in three key areas in the South Central Mindanao region that included the cities of General Santos and Tacurong, but Cotabato was not expected to be hit first.

Police also said local terror cells of either the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network or Abu Sayyaf rebels were behind the bomb attack, the first of its kind reported in the region this year.

Last year, at least 10 persons were killed and several others wounded in a wave of bombings carried out by both JI and Abu Sayyaf militants in the cities of Cotabato, General Santos Tacurong and the town of Makilala in North Cotabato province, all of them in Mindanao.

The bombing took place days before the opening of a summit of Southeast Asian countries in Cebu, central Philippines.

The Canadian government has newly warned its citizens against going to Cebu and southern Philippines due to intelligence reports that terrorists are planning attacks in these areas.

Last month, the Philippine government made a last-minute postponement of the summit due to an alleged typhoon threat. But concern about terrorism and domestic political situation were widely believed to be the main reasons for the postponement.

Source: Xinhua