BULUAN, MAGUINDANAO – President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said Islamic State (IS) militants planned and staged the bombing of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Sulu last January 27 that killed 23 people and wounded over 100 others.
“The ISIS has violent ideology. It’s not Muslim. Their interpretation with Qua-ran was corrupt. They know nothing but to kill. They will teach us how to kill? What will happen to our children?” Duterte said during the distribution of certificates of land ownership for farmers here.
Two days after the Jolo bombing, still unidentified men lobbed a grenade inside a mosque in Zamboanga City, killing two Muslim religious leaders and wounding four others.
Shortly after the incident in Jolo, SITE Intelligence, a U.S.-based group that monitors online communications among Muslim militant groups, reported that the IS East Asia Province had issued a statement claiming responsibility for the deadly bombing./gsg