Two Indonesian suicide bombers, helped by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG),
carried out the Jan. 27 Jolo cathedral attack that killed 22 people and
wounded more than 100, Philippine Interior and Local Government
Secretary Eduardo Ano said on Friday.
Mangled body parts recovered from the site of the explosion indicated a suicide attack, he added.
The ASG “acted as a guide and probably conducted preliminary surveillance prior to the bombing,” he said.
The bombers were an Indonesian couple, with the male’s alias identified
as Abu Huda, Ano added. “I’m certain that they’re Indonesians,” he told
CNN Philippines.
The two reportedly worked with ASG Commander Hatib (Hajjan) Sawadjaan, who has pledged allegiance to Daesh.
Reports cited witnesses as saying they saw a woman with a backpack
sitting on the fourth row of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral.
That woman is believed to have been the first bomber, while her male
companion, who was at the entrance, is believed to have carried out the
second blast.
Ano said Abu Huda had been in Sulu province for a long time, while his wife had come just before the bombing.
Ano added that both the Jolo cathedral attack and last year’s suicide
bombing in the city of Lamitan, perpetrated by a Moroccan, were projects
of the ASG under Sawadjaan.
The ASG wants to “raise their terror war to a religious level; that’s
why they chose the church,” Ano said, adding that there are still
foreign militants in the area and working with Sawadjaan. One of them
was described as an Arab-looking man.
“That’s very alarming. That’s why we have to watch out. The military and
the police are doing everything (they can). In fact, they’re conducting
massive military operations,” Ano said.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told Arab News that according to
intelligence information, there are about 40 suspected foreign
terrorists spread all over the island of Mindanao.
They are mostly Asian, but there are also a few Arab-looking militants, he added.
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