Philippine army thwarted a suicide bombing
Soldiers in the southern Philippines foiled what the
army said on Wednesday (Nov 6) was an
attempted suicide bombing in an urban area, the latest in a series of attacks
blamed on a group aligned with Islamic State.
Troops manning a checkpoint on the island of Jolo
engaged in a short gunfight with three men on a motorcycle late on Tuesday
afternoon. The attackers were killed and bomb vests, a handgun, a grenade and
detonators were seized, the military said.
The intended target was an urban area of Jolo, the
island's capital, and two of the men were Egyptian, the regional armed forces
command said in a statement.
The other man was Filipino and a member of Abu
Sayyaf, a group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State and is notorious
for piracy and for kidnapping foreigners.
The incident would have been be the fifth attempted
suicide bombing in the southern Philippines in the past 16 months. Such attacks
were previously unheard of despite decades of separatist unrest and lawlessness
that has given rise to extremist sentiments.
It marked a sinister turn in the Philippines' fight
to contain militant groups inspired by Islamic State who have been joined by
fighters from Malaysia and Indonesia, including in a brazen attack and
five-month occupation of Marawi City in 2017.
The suicide attacks were all in the Sulu
archipelago, Abu Sayyaf's stronghold, and were all claimed by Islamic State.
They included a twin bombing of a church in January
that killed 21 people, a van bomb at a checkpoint in July 2018 that killed 11,
a suicide attack by two youths that killed eight in June, and a woman who
prematurely detonated a bomb she was carrying near an army detachment in
September.
The attackers included Indonesians, a Moroccan and
Filipinos.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to
wipe out Abu Sayyaf and has intensified military operations in its strongholds,
although bombings targeting civilians and military have continued unabated.
