Terrorism in The Philippines - 2007

• The first explosion destroyed a stand selling lottery tickets across the street from a public market in General Santos City. Three people died instantly and another three succumbed to their injuries, with two children among the dead while another 22 were wounded.

• The second explosion occurred in Kidapawan City, about 65 miles north of General Santos City, as an improvised bomb placed near the fence of a police outpost along the national highway exploded, injuring two male passers-by.

• The third blast at a dumpsite along a major street in Cotabato City injured up to 5 and appeared to be from an improvised bomb, although it could also have been a grenade.

A bomb exploded in a crowded billiard hall and passenger terminal in Tacurong City killing 8 and causing thirty-three others serious shrapnel and burn wounds. The blast occurred around 4:50 p.m. at a corner across from a restaurant where election officials, candidates and military officers were meeting ahead of May 14 balloting. Authorities described the explosive used as either TNT or gelignite, similar to that of improvised explosive device recovered and defused on April 29, and that there were indications that the attack had been carried out by local JI recruits.

Five-year-old Adril Watangao and two adults are killed and up to 37 other people are injured when a bomb, probably laid by Islamic extremists, explodes in a Weena bus terminal in Cotabato City, in the Mindanao region. About half of the casualties were children.

A vehicle bomb explodes at around 20:15 p.m. near the south lobby of the main building of the Philippine House of Representatives killing six people, including congressman Wahab Akbar, two congressional aides, and two congressional staffers. Another congressman, Henry Teves, was taken to the hospital in a critical condition and representative Luzviminda Ilagan was hospitalised. According to the police, a total of thirteen people, many of them congressional staff members, were hurt in the explosion that left a three-foot crater and several injured succumbed to their injuries later in hospital.

Police suspect an improvised explosive device was left in a motorcycle parked near Rep. Ilangan's car and was remotely detonated, as the explosion occurred immediately after the suspension of the session at 8:05 p.m. though the authorities could not immediately describe the type of explosive. A spokesman for Akbar suggested that the attack was directed at the congressman, as Akbar and his family have ruled Basilan, an island in the south notorious as a base for the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, for decades.