Indon couple were bombers

Stakeholder of future Peace sign from a child is the most compelling reason to finish off the source of terrorism in the country. BOB DUNGO JR. ">Stakeholder of future Peace sign from a child is the most compelling reason to finish off the source of terrorism in the country. BOB DUNGO JR.

An Indonesian couple carried out the twin bombings of a Jolo cathedral that killed 22 people, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said.

“Indonesian suicide bombers were the culprit but they were guided by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). The ASG studied the target, made the reconnaissance and surveillance and brought the couple inside the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral,” Año said during a gathering in Palo, Leyte.

“We have sources inside (the ASG),” he said, adding authorities hold the names of suspects but these will have to be verified since they used aliases.

Citing pieces of evidence and solid facts at hand, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also expressed belief the attack was a case of suicide bombing as earlier claimed by President Rodrigo Duterte and the bomb that detonated inside the Church was likely to have been on the woman.

This was the statement of Mr. Duterte, when he visited the blast site, where 22 people were killed and almost 100 others were wounded.

Lorenzana yesterday said “all facts point to suicide bombing” amid the ongoing in-depth investigation by government security forces. The Philippine National Police (PNP) office in Sulu likewise confirmed the Jolo cathedral blast to be such a case.

Sulu provincial police director Senior Supt. Pablo Labra II, at a media briefing, said witness accounts and unclaimed body parts found in the blast site point to the possibility that a woman brought a homemade bomb inside the cathedral.

On guard Special Weapons and Tactics trooper provides security to a mosque in Quiapo after the recent string of bombings in Mindanao. BOB DUNGO JR. “I believe, with evidence at hand, the Mt. Carmel Cathedral bombing was a suicide bombing,” Lorenzana said.

The Defense chief cited key factors in arriving at his declaration such as the church being heavily guarded 24 hours daily since August when threats to bomb it surfaced. Those entering were screened. All bags and belongings were checked.

“The bombs could have been strapped to the body of the bomber and escaped the attention of the soldiers doing the screening,” Lorenzana added.

“The presence of body parts strewn all over. According to the forensic investigators of the PNP, these body parts could belong to two persons — one inside the church and one outside,” he said.

Lorenzana, however, maintained that authorities are still validating more data before making any official conclusion.

“All the facts point to suicide bombing, but our people are validating some more data. We will soon come up with a definite conclusion,” Lorenzana added.

The Defense chief said authorities have received information that the alleged suicide bombers could be from Yemen or Indonesia.

“All these were info which we also got are being evaluated. The nationalities of the alleged bombers are many: Yemeni, Indonesian,” Lorenzana said.

The President has declared the Jolo bomb attack as a case of suicide bombing, pointing to an unidentified couple as culprits.

Police and military initially tagged the ASG of Hatib Sawadjaan, dubbed Ajang-Ajang or “sons of warriors,” as responsible for the attack that killed 22 persons while nearly 100 others were wounded.

Earlier, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. had branded the unclaimed body parts recovered after the blasts as key to Mr. Duterte’s pronouncement.

Among the body parts recovered were part of the face, scalp, hand and spine.

The latest casualty in the church attack was 68-year-old Thelma Villanueva, who died in the intensive care unit of the Zamboanga City Medical Center “after her family decided to cease life support,” the military’s Western Mindanao Command said.

At least four persons of interest — including the brother of a slain Abu Sayyaf official — surrendered to authorities earlier this week to clarify that they had nothing to do with the bombing.

The Sulu PNP also said investigations regarding the incident lead to the findings that the blasts could have been carried out by a female suicide bomber.

He noted that based on 36 witness affidavits, the description of a thin woman, around 5’2” in height, wearing a dark hoodie and concealing a backpack, entered the church and sat on a pew during the Mass before the explosion, although her nationality has yet to be determined.

“People inside the cathedral noticed that the woman was moving suspiciously,” Labra said, adding while evidence suggests the deadly blast was the handiwork of a suicide bomber, they have yet to conclude the investigations.

The Sulu provincial police director also noted that two pairs of dismembered feet — possibly belonging to a man and a woman — remain unclaimed as these are still undergoing forensic exams.

He said there is also an unclaimed skull and ears which will also be examined.

Meanwhile, the AFP is continuing its call to the public to remain calm even as it called for vigilance following successive bombings of a church and mosque in Mindanao, saying the people should not be “swayed” by the supposed religious color behind the incidents.

PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde will also personally supervise security measures in the upcoming second round of the plebiscite for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato.

Albayalde said the PNP will pour in fresh troops to the area to ensure the peaceful and orderly conduct of the plebiscite.

“I will go there and personally supervise,” Albayalde vowed.

Col. Ezra Balagtey, spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command, disclosed to media that their insurgency against rebels of the New People’s Army (NPA) continues in relation to President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent standing order to the military of pulverizing the ASG.

“It is a standing order that we crush all the insurgencies even the NPA and that is what the Eastern Mindanao Command is doing in our area. If you will notice sunod-sunod ang engkwentro natin these past days and may dalawang engkwentro na nangyayari dito sa command in Agusan and Magpet. Patuloy pa rin ang ating operations na ginagawa (If you notice, there have been successive encounters these past days and the command experienced two encounters in Agusan and Magpet. We are still continuing with our operations),” Balagtey said.