Suicide bomber dies in Philippines; no other casualties

A militant wearing a traditional black Muslim woman's gown was killed in a suicide bombing attack Sunday on a military detachment in the southern Philippines that failed to inflict any other deaths or injuries, officials said.

The suicide attacker, who wore a traditional black Muslim woman's gown, tried but failed to enter a detachment in Sulu province's Indanan town and died when a bomb the militant was carrying exploded.

It was the third known suicide attack in Sulu this year.

Regional military chief Lt Gen Cirilito Sobejana said the bomber failed to enter the detachment due to tight security.

The militant had long hair and wore a black Muslim gown but a hand severed in the explosion appeared to be too large for a woman, Sobejana said in a statement.

"The suicide bomber was ... foreign looking with long hair based on the recovered mutilated head, however, the recovered dismembered hand is similar to that of a man," Sobejana said.

A military spokesman in Sulu, Lt Col Gerard Monfort, said by phone that troops took cover and assumed combat positions, some behind sand bags, when the militant refused to step away from the outpost's gate and carried something that bulged in the bomber's gown.

"A wary soldier yelled at the militant to 'Don't enter, go away, go away' and other soldiers who heard him took cover and assumed combat positions," Monfort said.

"Then an explosion killed the militant."