MANILA – Two powerful explosions drove through heavily populated areas of a southern Philippine island on Monday, killing at least 10 people in a well-known stronghold of the extremist group Abu Sayyaf.
“There was a heavy explosion” near noon near the town square on Jolo Island, said Captain Rex Payot, a spokesman for the joint police-military anti-terrorism task force.
Early police and military reports said at least five soldiers and four civilians were killed instantly in the first blast, which happened when soldiers assisted local municipal officials in carrying out Covid-19 humanitarian efforts. At least 16 soldiers were injured.
Not long after, a second explosion occurred at Mount Carmel’s Cathedral of Our Lady, killing one person and injuring two others. Earlier last year, a suicide bomber struck at the same cathedral killing at least 23 people as worshipers gathered for Sunday Mass.
No one immediately took responsibility for the explosions. But Jolo, in the Sulu archipelago in the extreme south of the nation, was long considered occupied territory and a hotbed of militant activity.
Abu Sayyaf, who has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, has split into several factions, one of which is led by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, the recognized leader of the local Islamic State group in the southern Philippines. Mr. Sawadjaa claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of Mount Carmel’s Our Lady last year.
The Western Mindanao Command of the Army said in an internal report seen by The New York Times that the first explosion occurred in front of the Paradise Food Plaza in a village called Walled City in downtown Jolo. An initiative investigation identified it as an improvised explosive device rigged to a motorcycle. The blast damaged two military vehicles.
“Based on initial findings, a burning motorcycle was seen in the area,” the army said. “This could be the car the suspect is using.”
Gen. Manuel Abu, chief of police in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, which includes Jolo, said the initial blast was likely intended to draw authorities to the area.
“The second explosion happened before the first blastsite,” he said. “Initially, we sent our bomb experts to investigate,” he said. Then, the second blast hit.
Jolo’s provincial information officer, Sonny Abbing, told a local radio station, “I was near the site when I heard a loud explosion and saw some police and personnel falling.”
The mayor of Jolo, Kerkhar Tan, gave an order for lockdown in the wake of the explosions. The Philippine Coast Guard in southwestern Mindanao, as well as in the areas of Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Basilan and Zamboanga, was deployed to high-altitude fires, according to local news reports.
This month, Philippine troops captured five suspected Abu Sayyaf militants working under bomb expert Mundi Sawadjaan in Jolo. He escaped, but military officials said they believed the group had been looking for possible targets.
Security forces in Sulu are investigating the possibility that the wanted bomber, who is accused of orchestrating the church’s suicide bombings last year, was behind the explosions Monday, said Major Generation Corleto Vinluan jr of the Western Mindanao Command.
“We’ve been chasing him since May,” he said.
Hannah Beech carried report from Bangkok.
