At least 27 dead as twin bombing hits southern Philippine church

[misskit]

MANILA - At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured early on Sunday (Jan 27) r when two bombs exploded during a mass at a Roman Catholic cathedral in the mainly Muslim province of Sulu.


It is one of the deadliest attacks in recent years in the Philippines’ restive south.


The first bomb went off at around 8am inside the Cathedral of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, a poverty-wracked island of some 700,000.

A second blast, purportedly from a bomb stashed inside a motorcycle, followed minutes later at a parking lot outside the compound, as those inside the cathedral were fleeing and as government forces were responding to the attack.





Military spokesman Brigadier-General Edgard Arevalo tallied 17 dead as of 11am, including five soldiers sent to secure the cathedral.


Just before noon, the number climbed to at least 19 killed, police chief Director-General Oscar Albayalde said, citing unconfirmed reports from his field commanders.


Hours later, Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares, police director in the region that covers Sulu, said in a radio interview that 27 had already died, and over 70 were wounded.





Images on social media and photos released by the military showed debris and bodies lying on a busy street outside the cathedral, which has been hit by bombs in the past.


Troops in armoured carriers sealed off the main road leading to the church, while vehicles transported the dead and wounded to the hospital. The military said it airlifted some of the wounded to the nearby city of Zamboanga for medical treatment.


President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a text message “the enemies of the state have boldly challenged the capability of the government to secure the safety of the citizenry in that region”.


“The (military) will rise to the challenge and crush these godless criminals... We will pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators behind this dastardly crime until every killer is brought to justice and put behind bars.


"The law will give them no mercy,” he said.


Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a statement said he had “directed our troops to heighten their alert level, secure all places of worships and public places at once, and initiate pro-active security measures to thwart hostile plans”.


General Benjamin Madrigal, the military chief, called the attack a “treachery”, and said he had already ordered security forces “to pursue the criminals with the full force of the law”.
No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.


“We don’t have any lead yet. We’re looking at different threat groups in the area. We can’t stay yet if this has anything to do with the recent plebiscite,” said Mr Albayalde.


The attack came nearly a week after more than 1.5 million Muslims, a minority in the predominantly Catholic nation, overwhelmingly approved a more powerful autonomous region in the Philippines’ south.


They had voted for the new, self-administered region called the “Bangsamoro”, or nation of Moros, in the war-torn island of Mindanao, in hopes of ending nearly five decades of a separatist rebellion that has left over 150,000 people dead.


The Bangsamoro law is the product of years of often tumultuous negotiations between the government in Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the main rebel group.
Voters in Sulu, however, rejected it.


The province is home to a rival rebel faction that is opposed to the deal, as well as the Abu Sayyaf group, which is not part of any peace process.


The Abu Sayyaf, a gang of self-styled Islamic militants founded in the 1990s with seed money from the Al Qaeda network, has long used Sulu as a base, carrying out kidnappings and bombings.


It has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).


Though Abu Sayyaf officially has a separatist Islamist agenda, it has capitalised on decades of instability in Mindanao to generate tens of millions of dollars from piracy and ransom payments.


The group is still holding at least five hostages — a Dutch, two Malaysians, an Indonesian and a Filipino — in their jungle bases mostly near Sulu’s Patikul town, not far from Jolo.


The Abu Sayyaf is believed to have carried out the worst terror attacks in Philippine history, including the bombing of a passenger ferry in Manila Bay that killed more than 100 people in 2004.


Mr Mujiv Hataman, governor of the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that the Bangsamoro region will replace by 2022, told the online news site Rappler he was “99 per cent certain” the Abu Sayyaf was behind Sunday’s attack.


The government is hoping the new Bangsamoro region, with former top rebels from the MILF at the helm, can rein in a new wave of Islamist radicals sweeping across Mindanao.


https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se...lippine-church

[Cujo]

I have a feeling due process might be put on hold in the hunt for perpetrators. A few dead muzzies coming up.

[harrybarracuda]

I have a feeling due process might be put on hold in the hunt for perpetrators. A few dead muzzies coming up.

I hope Thailand is paying attention.

[misskit]

Police: Sabah-based Indonesians Facilitated Travel of Suicide Bombers

The Indonesian couple who killed 23 people in suicide bombings in the southern Philippines in January travelled there with the help of two Indonesian nationals based in Sabah, Malaysia, police said Monday.


The Jan. 27 twin bombings at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province, were among the worst acts of terror in the Philippines in years. The attacks, which injured more than 100, took almost a year of planning, Philippine authorities say.


They allege that the bombings were planned by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, who took over as IS leader in the Philippines after Isnilon Hapilon was killed in the battle of Marawi nearly two years ago.


In July, Indonesian National Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo identified the suicide bombers as Rullie Rian Zeke and Ulfah Handayani Saleh, a married couple deported from Turkey in 2017 after they allegedly tried to cross its border to enter IS-controlled territory in Syria.


Malaysian authorities declined to specify when Rullie and Ulfah entered Malaysia, but said the couple hatched their plans within a month of getting to know suspected extremists Mohd Ali Suhari, 21, and Marwan Harun, 25, both Indonesians based in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.


“With the help of Ali and Marwan, Rullie and Ulfah took a boat ride to Sabah and from the east coast city of Semporna, they took a speedboat to the southern Philippine and later to Jolo,” Malaysia’s counter-terror chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay told BenarNews.

The Indonesian couple became acquainted with Ali and Marwan through their son-in-law, Andi Baso, (alias Zikri or Radit), who travelled with them to the Philippines and is believed to be there still, Ayob told BenarNews.

The two other men, who had been living in Malaysia for years without proper immigration documents, were both arrested – Ali on May 26 and Marwan on July 10, Ayob said.


They face charges of providing assistance to suspected militants trying to enter the southern Philippines via Sabah.

They were also believed to be responsible for tracking the movement of funds for IS-linked groups in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, he said.


Ayob noted that Malaysian authorities had previously crippled militant cells that used Sabah as a transit point to penetrate the southern Philippines.


The Malaysian counter terror unit was working with counterparts in Indonesia and the Philippines to tackle terror activities that affect the region, Ayob said.


“It is not easy as we have a porous border to deal with,” he said.


Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington and an expert in Southeast Asian security issues, said Sabah has become an important transit hub for foreign militants trying to get into the southern Philippines after IS’s military defeat in Syria and Iraq.


“Additionally, some of the most important terrorist cells arrested in Malaysia have been in Sabah,” Abuza said in an analysis published recently in The Maritime Executive. “All of this points to the fact that Sabah is not only the crux of Malaysia security, but regional security as well.”



https://www.benarnews.org/english/ne...019165254.html