Philippine police were searching for clues as to who was responsible for a bomb blast in a market packed with shoppers that killed 14 people and wounded 65.
They said Muslim militants were among the suspects for Sunday's attack at the main market in southern General Santos City, but that a local kidnap gang and a feud between shop-keepers were also being investigated.
Witnesses said the bomb could have been placed inside a traveling bag that was left by a man who bought meat at one of the shops in the market when it was packed with afternoon shoppers.
The man said he would return to claim the bag after a while. Thirty minutes later, an explosion ripped through the meat shop.
Shoppers and merchants fled the market in panic after the blast and police cordoned off the area.
A radio station reported it received an anonymous text message claiming responsibility for the attack to avenge the death of a member of the Pentagon kidnap gang a week earlier.
Pentagon is a group that has been placed on the US State Department's terror watchlist since 2002.
General Santos City is in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, where Muslim rebel groups and several bandit gangs operate. Muslims make up only about 5 per cent of the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines' 82 million people but live mostly in Mindanao.
However, city Mayor Pedro Acharon earlier dismissed talk that the attack was the handiwork of Muslim militants or the kidnap gang, saying he had received reports that two groups of stall owners were fighting for control of the public market.