Security alert in Philippine blast city

One attack targeted a shopping centre

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has ordered tightened security and a crackdown on terrorists after a wave of deadly bombings hit the southern city of General Santos.

President Arroyo issued the crackdown after visiting the city on Monday.

She called the bombings "a crime against the Filipino people".

Police said they had arrested two men in connection with a series of bomb attacks on Sunday, which killed at least 14 people and injured scores of others.

"This evil will not go unpunished. We will fight terrorism to its end," Mrs Arroyo said.

Among the measures to be brought in are curfews and more security posts in the city, a government spokesman told the BBC.

Another explosion hit the area ahead of the president's visit, when what appeared to be a small bomb went off in the fishing port. However, reports later said it may have been an accident. There were no reports of further casualties.

A man claiming to represent the Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels said his group was behind one of Sunday's attacks.

But police say their two suspects belong to another Muslim militant group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

We're doing what has to be done for peace in the southern Philippines

President Gloria Arroyo

The MILF is the main guerrilla group campaigning for independence for the Muslim minority in the southern Philippines, while the US links Abu Sayyaf with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Hundreds of US soldiers have been sent to train the Philippine army in its fight against the Abu Sayyaf.

Government concern

Sunday's most deadly bomb had been left in a motorised tricycle. It went off outside the Fitmark department store, killing at least 14 people and injuring many others.

Four of the dead were children.

Minutes later, a second device went off in a residential area after being thrown from a moving car. No casualties were reported.

There were also reports of other explosions on Sunday.

Police said they had received a phone call warning that 18 devices had been planted in the city.

The government has been fighting Muslim extremists in the southern Philippines, and US troops are training local soldiers on the island on Basilan, about 350 kilometres (215 miles) west of General Santos.

Rohman Al-Ghozi: Link to General Santos arms cache

The city of 800,000 people is mainly Christian.

Last Thursday, an Indonesian man, Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, pleaded guilty to explosives possession after providing information that led police to a cache of a ton of explosives in General Santos.

In January, police arrested three Filipinos in town on suspicion of links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Correspondents say it is possible that the blasts are linked to the sentencing of Al-Ghozi to a 12-year prison term.