| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Duterte blames suicide bomber, wife for cathedral bombing |
| 2019-01-30 |
| [Yahoo] A suicide bomber and his wife carried out an attack on a Catholic cathedral that killed 21 people, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday. He told reporters that a woman who remains at large left a device that exploded during mass at the cathedral in the remote Muslim-majority island of Jolo on Sunday, and that her husband later blew himself up outside. The president's account differed from earlier statements by security officials. Duterte said military intelligence told him Tuesday the second bomb was strapped on to the body of the male suspect who detonated it as survivors of the first blast fled. He said, "They (investigators) could not find any part of the body because it exploded, because that was terrorism and that was a suicide." If Duterte's account is confirmed it would be among the few suicide bombings in the Philippines. Duterte said the Jolo attack was carried out by the Abu Sayyaf. He said, "We are sure of that." Duterte said the woman wore a necklace "with a large cross" pendant, which he suggested was the likely reason she was not intercepted. "It's not the norm in this country to frisk a woman inside the church," the president said, adding he has ordered the military to "go into a punitive action" against the Abu Sayyaf. Security officials said earlier Tuesday that a group affiliated with the Abu Sayyaf carried out the attack with two explosive devices, one left behind by a woman inside the church and the other hidden on a motorcycle outside. |
| Posted by:ryuge |