DAVAO CITY, Philippines, 3 April 2003 - At least 15 people were killed and 44 others injured by a bomb blast near a wharf in this southern city, where 22 people died in an airport terror attack barely a month ago.

Police said the bomb, apparently hidden inside a food stall, exploded at about 7 p.m. when people were eating at the crowded area outside the ferry passenger terminal on Sasa district.

Witnesses said the explosion sprayed the area with blood, shattered windows and blew a crater in the pavement underneath the barbecue stand.

A nun, four policemen and several vendors were among the dead, police said.

"I saw people shocked, speechless, crying and just watching bodies scattered on the ground a few seconds after the blast," said Larry Laura, 39, who was driving a van into the pier when the bomb went off about 100 meters away.

Police at the scene of yesterday's blast said there were 13 people dead and 53 wounded. But the Davao Medical Center issued a statement saying 15 had been killed and 44 wounded.

Dr. Gerardo Cunanan, director of the Davao Medical Center, said 11 people were brought to the hospital morgue, and four more bodies were being retrieved from the site.

One victim was a young boy still clutching a toy. Some of the bodies were covered by sheets of newspaper.

The MV Super Ferry 15 had just arrived from Manila and passengers were disembarking as the bomb exploded near the terminal building further along the wharf. Nearby, another passenger vessel, passengers were boarding the Cebu-bound Pilipina Princess.

Radio reports said one boy had alerted vendors after seeing the bomb before it went off but guards had largely ignored their frantic warnings. The reports could not be independently confirmed.

Witnesses said the explosion was as loud as last month's airport blast that killed 22 and injured more than 140 people.

State of Lawless Violence

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she had ordered the military and police to "take all appropriate measures", including checkpoints and visibility patrols, against "these lawless elements and terrorists".

"In a state of lawless violence, I can empower the military to do this crackdown," she said in a radio interview.

Arroyo, who was in Dakak, Zamboanga del Norte, to promote a new roll-on-roll-off ferry to speed the flow of goods around this nation of islands, planned to go to Davao today to meet investigators.

"This is a grim reminder that we must always be alert and watchful of those who wish to do us harm," Arroyo said. "We must not be intimidated. The police and the military alone cannot do the job. This is a total war requiring the full attention and resources of the entire community. Each citizen must be the eyes and ears to sense danger and initiative to immediately report to authorities."

Lt. Col. Danilo Servando, the chief military spokesman, said top military leaders were convening in Manila, 960 kilometers (600 miles) to the north, to discuss the attack.

Earlier, Southern Philippines military chief Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya said he had ordered troops to stay on highest alert.

"I'm outraged," Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said at the blast site. Duterte has vowed to implement tough measures against terrorists and insurgents following the blast at the Davao airport.

Crime Against Humanity

Immediately after the blast, the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - which had been blamed for Davao's airport bombing and other explosions recently - condemned yesterday's attack.

"This is a crime against humanity," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.

"This heinous act has no place in the MILF. We want this investigated and again like in the first attack, we would be offering our assistance. The attacker is a lunatic, a crazed man, killing innocent people. Politically there is nothing to gain from this attack," he added.

Kabalu said the MILF is offering its goodwill assistance in the investigation "to manifest our desire to stamp out criminalities like this."

He said that immediately after the bombing, an aide to mayor Duterte called him up to ask about possible MILF involvement in the blast. Arrest warrants were issued after the Davao airport bombing for leaders of the MILF.

The government and the MILF are working to rekindle sporadic peace talks with the help of Malaysia and Libya, but troops and the guerrillas clash regularly on Mindanao.

Investigators examining the airport bombing, helped by American and Australian forensics experts, are also exploring the potential involvement of Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian group seeking a strict Muslim state. Indonesian police are looking at a possible Jemaah Islamiah link to bombings on the resort island of Bali last October that killed 202 people, nearly half of them Australian tourists.