Police investigators said the unit of the Yellow Bus Company bearing the body number 2008 and plate number MWB 296 was traveling towards General Santos City when the bomb exploded at about 2 p.m. local time along the secluded stretch of national highway of Polomolok town.
The explosion came minutes after a bomb explosion in Isabela City, Basilan that left four people killed and 11 injured.
Authorities believed the separate bombing incidents were not related.
Police Senior Superintendent Jose Biones, provincial police director of South Cotabato, said their investigators reported that the improvised explosive device was concealed in a bag and placed at the bus baggage compartment in the rear portion.
The police said the bomb was triggered remotely through cellphone from a distance.
Biones said no group claimed responsibility for the bomb attack and police were investigating the motive to determine the group behind the incident.
Responding police, local rescue team reported 19 passengers were brought to the nearest hospital for treatment of shrapnel wounds.
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