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Philippines hunts bombers in deadly festival blast
SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines, Aug 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Philippine
authorities were hunting on Wednesday two men believed to have planted the
explosives that killed two people, including a young girl, at a festival in
the nation’s south.
The blast late Tuesday in the town of Isulan, which wounded 35 others, is
the second deadly bombing in less than in a month in the region where
Islamist militants have waged a decades-long insurgency.
A man left the improvised bomb in a bag near a grocery store as crowds
gathered to celebrate the town’s founding anniversary but he and an
accomplice escaped, the military said.
“One (man) did the emplacement while the other one (drove) the getaway
motorcycle,” Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana told AFP, adding a manhunt
was underway.
The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, is the latest violence in
the south of the mainly Catholic archipelago where a long-running Islamist
insurgency has left more than 100,000 people dead by government count.
Sobejana said it was “highly likely” that the pro-IS Bangsamoro Islamic
Freedom Fighters (BIFF) plotted the bombing.
A military spokesman said the blast could have been in retaliation for
offensives against the BIFF, adding the group had planned bomb attacks in
parts of the southern region of Mindanao.
“They want to create and sow terror in the area,” regional military
spokesman Captain Arvin Encinas told AFP, adding two soldiers were among the
wounded.
The attack comes less than a month after a van bomb ripped through a
military checkpoint on the neighbouring island of Basilan on July 31, killing
10 people.
IS claimed responsibility for that bombing as well and authorities believe
the man behind the wheel of the explosives-laden van may have intended to
target a nearby children’s parade.
President Rodrigo Duterte put Mindanao under martial rule until the end of
this year after pro-IS militants seized the southern city of Marawi last
year.
On Wednesday, Duterte’s aides condemned the bombing saying it could prompt
the president to extend martial law in the area.
The recent blasts follow the Duterte government enacting a law to create
greater autonomy for the Muslim minority in the south and which is hoped will
help end the conflict.
The mother of the girl who died in Tuesday’s bombing pleaded with
authorities for justice.
“I hope they help us and catch the perpetrators,” Nezel Alayon said in
between tears.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1204 hrs