MANILA: Three members of an extremist group have been arrested for a bombing in the home town of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte last month that left 15 people dead, authorities have revealed.
The detained men belonged to a local gang in the southern Philippines, which carried out the attack partly to raise its profile with ISIL group, Agence-France-Presse quoted Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana as saying.
“They are trying to get the attention of ISIL to recognize them that’s why they were trying to record (the bombing on video) for propaganda for international release,” Lorenzana reportedly said, using another term for ISIL, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.
In past fighting with troops, the group’s members were seen carrying black ISIL flags and bandanas bearing the jihadists’ insignia were found in their base, the military was quoted as saying.
Lorenzana reportedly said that the Maute group also carried out the attack in an effort to disrupt a military campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, an infamous kidnap-for-ransom gang also based in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao, that it has links with.
The blast, which tore through a bustling market in the heart of the southern city of Davao, Duterte’s home town, led the president to impose a “state of national emergency” that led to tighter security measures, the report said.
Lorenzana reportedly said the three suspects were arrested Tuesday at a checkpoint in Cotabato city, a four-hour drive from Davao. Police and soldiers recovered firearms and materials for an improvised explosive device.
Seven other members of the group were involved in the bombing, and security officials were pursuing them, Lorenzana added.
The Maute group has carried out kidnappings and bombings and is believed to have led an attack on an army outpost in the Mindanao town of Butig in February, reported AFP, adding that the Maute group also staged a daring jailbreak in Marawi City in Mindanao last month, freeing 23 of their detained members.
