Duterte vows to visit despite bomb attack

A roadside bomb in the southern Philippines on Tuesday wounded seven members of the president's security team, a day ahead of his planned visit to an area gripped by intense fighting between Islamist militants and government troops.

Rodrigo Duterte said he would defy his advisers and still go to the town of Butig on Wednesday to visit wounded soldiers, despite the bombing that hit his security staff and also wounded two soldiers.

"The truck carrying the president's advance security detail was hit by an improvised explosive device," Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters in Manila. "There was no firefight."