GENERAL SANTOS (Philippines) - PHILIPPINE security forces were ordered on Friday to stay on stay on high alert after threats of more bomb attacks in the country's volatile south, police said.

A New Year's Eve grenade attack at a park in the city of General Santos wounded 22 people, just a day after a similar incident at a police outpost left three injured.

Extra personnel were deployed in the southern city of General Santos, particularly in parks and other popular public areas, said regional police commander Fidal Cimatu.

'We are on heightened alert because of some reports we are receiving that there will still be some bombings to be conducted in Mindanao,' he said, referring to the main southern island where General Santos is located.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but intelligence officials say they suspect the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Peace talks between the government and the MILF were suspended in August, when the rebels launched a spate of attacks across Mindanao that left scores dead and hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced.

On Tuesday, a suspected Muslim militant was killed when an improvised explosive device he was carrying exploded in the Mindanao town of Esperanza.

Police said they foiled on Thursday foiled what they said would have been a devastating bomb attack after disarming a powerful homemade explosive device at a bus depot in the city of Zamboanga. -- AFP