PNP on the hunt for alleged daughter of Jolo suicide bombers

In this photo provided by WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines, a soldier views the site inside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in the southern Philippines after two bombs exploded Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. (WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines Via AP)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) is on the hunt for the ten-year-old daughter of suicide bombers — believed to be Indonesian — whom they reportedly left to sympathizers of the Abu Sayyaf Group before carrying out the bombings at the Jolo cathedral.

PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said on Wednesday that through a DNA test, the child can help identify the suicide bombers of the twin blasts at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral on January 27, which left 23 dead and 95 injured.

“Pwede, kung makikita natin of course, kaya kailangan makita natin ‘yung [anak na] sinasabi nila na allegedly na meron silang iniwang anak dito sa Pilipinas,” Albayalde told reporters when asked if a DNA test between the child and recovered body parts of the couple can help in the investigation.

(That’s possible, if we will see her of course, that’s why we need to find the child who they say was left here in the Philippines.)

It was Interior Secretary Eduardo Año who first revealed that the couple had a ten-year-old daughter, citing reports from intelligence sources. He said the child was left in Sulu by her parents.

READ: Indonesian couple left child to Abu Sayyaf backers days before Jolo blasts

Albayalde said authorities also have to find the child, since she can also be a potential suicide bomber once she grows up.

Albayalde also revealed that the DNA test on the recovered two pairs of feet in the cathedral show they came from a woman and a man, which he said matches the testimonies of eyewitnesses and suspects who surrendered to police.

“Ang analysis dito [is] may nawawala talagang dalawa, ‘yung dalawa na unidentified pa, one pair for male, and one pair for female (The analysis here is there are really two people missing, those two still unidentified, one pair for male, one pair for female),” he said.

According to Albayalde, a pair of feet also matched a nape of a woman found in the blast site.

He said the recovered pairs of feet did not match any of those killed in the blasts. No relative has surfaced to claim the body parts.

Albayalde said the PNP’s counterpart in Indonesia also met with investigators around two weeks ago to help in the probe. /je