Security authorities announced Saturday a P3-million reward for the arrest of three more suspects behind the deadly twin bombings in Jolo, Sulu earlier this week.
A photo released by the local government of Zamboanga City identified Andi Baso, Reski Fantasya alyas Cici, both Indonesian nationals, and Filipino Mundi Sawadjaan as members of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group.
They are wanted for the twin bombings that killed 15 and wounded 75 others on Monday.
Authorities suspect Sawadjaan, nephew of Abu Sayyaf leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, as the brains behind the attack. Authorities earlier said two suicide bombers—widows of Abu Sayyaf terrorists—had carried out the bombings.
The military also tagged the younger Sawadjaan in the Jolo explosion at the Jolo Cathedral in January 2019 where 20 deaths were recorded and over 100 hurt.
Sawadjaan and his cohorts were reported to have fled to Zamboanga Peninsula following the attack.
This prompted Zamboanga City Mayor Beng Climaco to place her city under high alert.
“We have to increase the alert status because we were given information… that the suicide bombers from Jolo have escaped and posing a terror threat in Zamboanga Peninsula,” Climaco, who chairs the Regional Peace and Order Council, said in an online press conference.
She said: “We are alerting everyone, those in Region 9, let’s be alert, whether it’s a suicide attack or a vehicle bombing, we are asking in our barangays to be alert so we can deter the threat in our region.”
The mayor also instructed the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard to boost maritime capability, including strict checkpoints, following COVID-19 protocols.
Meanwhile, terrorism issues researcher Dr. Rommel Banlaoi said suicide bombing was the new face of terrorism in the Philippines.
According to him, in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV, this might take the form of family suicide terrorism, female suicide terrorism, and juvenile suicide terrorism, he said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV.
A comprehensive approach against terrorism is needed to combat its threat, said Banlaoi, chairman of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence, and Terrorism.
He added that suicide bombers would undergo two years of training and would be subjected to indoctrination.
The ISIS, he said, targets recruiting families for its bombing missions.
The military said security forces were conducting security patrols in the area when the explosions happened.
Revenge for the death of ISIS emir Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan was one of the angles being looked into by the military in the deadly blasts, Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) chief Major General Corleto Vinluan Jr. said on Wednesday.
Hatib is the uncle of Mundi Sawadjaan, whom Philippine Army chief Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana tagged as the brains behind the suicide bombings in Sulu province.
The commander of Joint Task Force Sulu on Wednesday identified the suspects in the recent suicide bombing attacks in Jolo.
Brigadier General William Gonzales said one of the suspects was identified only as Nanah, believed to be the wife of Filipino suicide bomber Norman Lasuca, while the other was identified as Inda Nhay, allegedly the wife of Abu Talha, the Abu Sayyaf’s liaison to ISIS who was killed during a firefight with troops.
The nationalities of these female suicide bombers have yet to be determined.
Meanwhile, an alleged member of the Abu Sayyaf Group under Mundi Sawadjaan was killed in an armed encounter between government troops and the rebel group in Patikul, Sulu on Saturday.
Interviewed on Dobol B sa News TV, Lt. Col. Rolando Mateo, spokesperson of the General Staff for Civil Military Operations of the 11th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, said that at about 9:15 a.m., the 3rd and the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion exchanged gunfire with the Abu Sayyaf group under Sawadjaan, who was seen as responsible for the Jolo twin bombings on August 24.
In a related development, AFP Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay condoled with the families of the 15 people who died in the suicide-bomb attacks in Jolo on August 24, 2020.
In a message Gapay said, “I wish to extend our deepest sympathies to the families of the 15 victims who perished … We offer our prayers to them, as well as for the 74 injured in that brazen attack on human lives by the notorious Abu Sayyaf Group.”
Gapay also urged the public to honor the victims of the Jolo bombings.
“The AFP remains unshaken, steadfast, and committed in fulfilling our mandate to the Filipino. We ask everyone to join us in honoring and remembering the soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty and innocent civilians who were caught in these hapless attacks,” he said.
The bombings were perpetrated by two female suicide bombers, the military earlier said.
