POLITICS: MANILA- IS owns up to Jolo blasts – JOLO ON LOCKDOWN, PH-WIDE ALERT ORDERED

ZAMBOANGA CITY: The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the deadly twin blasts at the Catholic cathedral of Jolo, which, it said, was carried out by a pair of suicide bombers.

IS, in a statement released by its Amaq News Agency, said the first bomber detonated an explosive belt, while the second attacker blew himself up outside the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral on Sunday, killing and wounding dozens of people, including soldiers deployed in the area.

The SITE Intelligence Group, a US  company that tracks online activity of jihadist organizations, reported that IS, also known as ISIS or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, had owned to the bombings.

The Long War Journal also reported that IS describes its target in Jolo as a “Christian temple,” saying that it was bombed during a “gathering of the Crusaders to perform their polytheist rituals.”

Both reports and Amaq did not say whether the suicide bombers were foreign fighters or Filipino militants.

Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, Armed Forces spokesman, described the IS claim as “propaganda,” a day after the military said the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG)could have been responsible for the Jolo blasts.

“They have been doing false claims in the past. An example is the Resorts World incident,” he said in a text message to reporters, citing the lone-wolf attack by a deranged ex-government employee on the Resorts World complex in Pasay City in 2017.

Several military sources also dismissed the claim of the IS, saying the real perpetrators had to be determined.

“Not ISIS. They always [claimed responsibility], whenever there are attacks but it’s not true. Most likely, ASG,” one source said.

Another source said a group led by Hatib Sawadjaan was being eyed as the primary suspect.

‘Ajang-Ajang Group’ responsible?

The Philippine military has largely blamed the “Ajang-Ajang Group,” a unit of the Abu Sayyaf, whose leaders have pledged allegiance to IS, and vowed to fight for the establishment of a caliphate in the restive region.

Authorities are investigating six persons of interest, as well as several terror groups, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said on Monday.

Esperon cited the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage obtained from the nearby establishments, in which at least six persons were seen to be acting “suspicious” when the improvised explosive device (IED) exploded inside the church.

The IEDs were “most probably” cellphone-detonated, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde.

This was because of the mere 12 to 15 seconds of difference between the two bomb explosions past 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, a military spokesman, said two bombs went off in the church.  One of the bombs was hidden under the seat of a motorcycle parked outside the cathedral.

Authorities said 20 people were killed and over 100 others wounded in the blasts.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Albayalde flew to Jolo on Monday to oversee the investigations into the attacks. Albayalde admitted that the local police force failed to implement tight security.

The bombings prompted the police to impose a nationwide alert to pre-empt any acts of terrorism, and a lockdown of Jolo.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who flew to Jolo on Monday, had ordered soldiers to annihilate the ASG, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said there could have been lapses in security and that the President was awaiting the results of investigations.

“He was so angry, for one. For another, he is so disappointed that despite the movement to tread the path towards peace and development, there are still some forces in that region that sow terror and kill and murder people,” he said.

Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan 2nd on Monday again condemned the twin bombings and called them a “dastardly act committed inside a place of worship and wrecked deaths and devastations beyond imaginable reasons, and deserve the strongest of condemnation. Words elude us at this moment of profound grief.”

Poor security

It was unclear how the improvised explosives were smuggled inside the church.

The bombings happened despite an extended martial rule in the whole of southern Philippines, and the attacks only showed how poor the security was in the capital town.

On New Year’s Eve, an improvised explosive also went off outside the South Seas Mall in Cotabato City that left dozens of casualties.

A member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters was arrested by authorities during President Duterte’s visit to Cotabato to campaign for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law providing greater autonomy in Muslim Mindanao. His family has denied all accusations against him.

The latest attack in Jolo was not the first time for Catholic churches in the predominantly Muslim province. In August 2013, a grenade explosion outside the cathedral wounded two civilians. In the previous year, a fragmentation grenade exploded at the cathedral’s roof.

Previous attacks on churches were largely blamed by the authorities to the Abu Sayyaf, a small but the most notorious among rebel groups operating in the troubled region.

In December 2010, Abu Sayyaf militants bombed another church inside the police base in Jolo, killing at least six worshipers. The militants scaled the church wall undetected under cover of darkness and planted the bomb and waited the next morning before detonating the powerful explosive during a mass.

Two people were also killed and 17 others wounded when militants detonated a huge bomb planted outside the cathedral in July 2009. Another bomb was found near the church and had been disarmed by Filipino and US troops helping the military fight terrorism.

In July 31 last year,  a Moroccan ISIS soldier,  Abu Katheer al Maghribi, exploded his van filled with explosives in Lamitan City in the volatile Muslim province of Basilan, several nautical miles south of Zamboanga and a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide  attack that left over a dozen casualties.

WITH DEMPSEY REYES, ROY D.R. NARRA AND CATHERINE S. VALENTE

.

.

 

Aseanews Headlines: