SULU – The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS has claimed responsibility for the deadly twin cathedral blasts in Jolo town in the southern Philippines and was carried out by a pair of suicide bombers.
ISIS, 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 over the weekend and killing and wounding dozens of people, including soldiers deployed in the area.
The SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. company that tracks online activity of jihadist organizations, reported that ISIS has owned to the bombings.
“ISIS, through Amaq and communiqué, claim deadly bombing on Christian church in Jolo, stating it was carried out by two suicide bombers. One detonated belt at church gate and second in church’s private lot where Filipino security forces gathered after first blast,” said Rita Katz, SITE director.
The Long War Journal also reported that ISIS 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.
Ajang-Ajang
The Philippine military has largely blamed the “Ajang-Ajang Group,” a unit of the Abu Sayyaf, whose leaders have pledged allegiance to ISIS, and vowed to fight for the establishment of a caliphate in the restive region.
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 a total of 20 people were killed and over 70 others wounded in the blasts. Earlier police reports claimed 27 had died – seven soldiers, one Coast Guard and 19 civilians; and that 14 more troops were wounded and also 61 civilians and two Coast Guards.
Security Lapses
President Rodrigo Duterte flew to Jolo on Monday and visited the church and met with security officials and ordered them to crush the Abu Sayyaf. Defense Chief Delfin Lorenzana and Police Chief Oscar Albayalde also arrived in Jolo to oversee the investigations into the attacks. Albayalde admitted the local police force failed to implement tight security that led to the attacks.
The bombings prompted the Philippine police to impose a nationwide alert to pre-empt any acts of terrorism.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said there could be lapses in security and that President Rodrigo Duterte is awaiting the results of investigations. He said Duterte was so angry. “Of course 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.
Dastardly Act
Sulu Governor Toto Tan on Monday again condemned the twin bombings and called it a “dastardly act committed inside a place of worship and wrecked deaths and devastations beyond imaginable reasons, and deserves the strongest of condemnation. Words elude us at this moment of profound grief.”
He said there has never been an episode in the post-colonial history of Sulu when wars were fought due to religious differences. “Sulu can rightly claim to be the most tolerant of any Muslim-dominated provinces in the region. Neighbors before the war of the 70s are still good neighbors until this very day. We should never allow anyone or anything to destroy what we have strongly built and nurtured through generations and so endearing to last for many more lifetimes to come, Inshallah!”
“As I deeply grieve and condole with the bereaved, I beseech everyone to exercise sobriety and allow concerned authorities and all instrumentalities of government to bring the perpetrators of this heinous and inhuman act to account for what they did to Sulu and its people. They should not go unpunished,” he said.
Martial Law
It was unclear how the improvised explosives were smuggled inside the church or how it managed to pass through police and military checkpoints.
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 MILF – tagged by the police and military as a Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter – linked to the attack was arrested by authorities during Duterte’s visit to Cotabato to campaign for the BOL ratification ahead of the plebiscite. His family denied all the accusation against him.
Attacks
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. And in the previous year, another 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 and 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 also detonated a huge bomb planted outside the cathedral in July 2009. A second 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.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that left over a dozen casualties. Basilan is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. Several foreign fighters had been killed in clashes with soldiers in Basilan in recent years. (Mindanao Examiner)
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