2 Philippine Explosions, Killing 14 and wounding 75

Soldiers and civilians were among the dead. The explosions occurred in a town plaza and near a cathedral targeted in a suicide bombing last year.

MANILA — Two powerful explosions ripped through heavily populated areas of a southern Philippine island on Monday, killing at least 14 people and wounding 75 others in a known stronghold of the extremist group Abu Sayyaf.

“There was a heavy explosion” around noon near the town plaza on Jolo Island, said Capt. Rex Payot, a spokesman of the joint police-military antiterrorism task force.

Police and military reports said that soldiers and civilians were killed instantly in the first blast, which occurred as army personnel were assisting local municipal officials in carrying out Covid-19 humanitarian efforts.

Not long after, a second explosion — set off by a suicide bomber, an official said — hit near the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Early last year, a suicide bombing at the same cathedral killed at least 23 people just as worshipers were gathering for Sunday Mass.