Bomb kills janitor for US troops in Philippines

By Manny Mogato

MANILA (Reuters) - A janitor for U.S. troops was killed and 13 people wounded in an explosion near an army base on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, but no American soldiers were hurt, the Philippine military said on Saturday.

Some 250 U.S. soldiers are due on Jolo from Monday to conduct two weeks of humanitarian missions as part of a 5,000-strong U.S. force taking part in annual war games with Philippine units.

The dead man was a local resident hired to clean toilets used by U.S. troops, Brigadier-General Alexander Aleo, the army commander on Jolo, told reporters.

Six women, five men and two children were wounded.

The blast came from a makeshift karaoke stall about 10 meters (yards) from the gate of the camp, Aleo said, but U.S. soldiers were spared by not being allowed into town.

"We don't know who was behind the attack," he told reporters. "But there's only one group capable of doing this -- it's the Abu Sayyaf."

Jolo is the stronghold of Abu Sayyaf, a small but deadly Muslim rebel group that is blamed for the worst attack in the country -- the bombing of a ferry in February 2004 that killed more than 100 people.

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