The death toll in the bombing of a southern Philippine airport rose to two on Friday with 24 more people injured in the explosion, police and officials said.
A British man, who was among the injured in Thursday's attack outside the arrival area of the Zamboanga City International Airport, 875 kilometres south of Manila, remained in critical condition.
Zamboanga Mayor Celso Lobregat identified the British man as Charles Macker, a long-time resident of Zamboanga and married to a Filipino woman.
City police chief Senior Superintendent Edwin De Ocampo said among the fatalities was the suspected bomber identified as Reynaldo Apilado, who died immediately after the explosion.
De Ocampo said Apilado, in his mid-30s, was a Christian and had no known links with al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels or Jemaah Islamiyah operatives that operate in the area.
The suspect was a construction worker, with no criminal record, and was a volunteer security watchman in the public housing project where he resided.
Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan, a known opponent of Abu Sayyaf rebels and was one of the wounded, said he believed he was the target of the attack.
"The explosion was right next to me," he said. "It was a failed assassination attempt."
Lobregat confirmed that a close-circuit television camera showed Tan was standing in front of the suspected bomber when the blast occurred.
"He was very fortunate to be alive considering he was only about 1 metre away from the suspect," he said.
But Lobregat pointed out that since the suspect carried the bomb in a bag on his back, his body actually shielded Tan.
De Ocampo said investigators have not yet established the target of the attack, but added that they did not believe it had been a suicide bombing.
The bombing occurred on the eve of a scheduled visit by US Ambassador Harry Thomas, who decided to postpone the trip.
Thomas offered US help in the investigation of the bombing.
Hundreds of US troops have been stationed in Zamboanga and nearby Basilan province for the past nine years to train Philippine troops in anti-terrorism operations