Police have arrested three more Muslim suspects for lethal bombings in the southern Philippine city of General Santos and said they were investigating the group's possible links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
The three were arrested in pre-dawn raids on their hideout in General Santos city, where police seized about four kilograms of bomb-making materials, regional police chief Colonel Bartolome Baluyot said.
"We are looking into the possibility that they might have a connection with groups like al Qaeda", Col Baluyot said.
The arrests brought to five the number of suspected Muslim militants accused in Sunday's bombings of a shopping mall and a residential area that killed 15 people and injured more than 50 others in the largely Christian city of General Santos.
An alleged operations officer of the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas - also linked by Washington to al Qaeda - has claimed responsibility for the bombings. Col Baluyot said police were investigating the man's claims, made in a call to a local radio station.