No evidence yet Quiapo bombings connected with ISIS – military

INQUIRER PHOTO/RICHARD A. REYES

The military on Monday said there is still no evidence to show that the bombings in Quiapo were connected with the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group.

During a national defense and security committee hearing at the House of Representatives, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eduardo Año told lawmakers there remains no evidence that the ISIS or even the Maute group that had pledged allegiance to terror group was behind the bombings in Quiapo.

Asked by Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque if the ISIS has made its presence in Metro Manila, Año said there remains no connection between the bombings and ISIS even though the latter claimed the attack to kill five Shiites in Quiapo.

READ: PNP says Quiapo bombings sparked by feud but IS claims attack

The bomb on May 7 went off at 5:40 p.m. on Gunao Street near the office of Nasser Abinal, president of the Imamate Islamic Center, claiming two lives and injuring six others. The bomb was denoted from a package delivered by a GrabExpress partner, who was instantly killed in the explosion.

It was followed by a second explosion at around 8:30 p.m. at the Norzagaray and Elizondo Streets.

READ: 2 explosions rock Quiapo: 2 dead, 6 injured | ‘GrabExpress’ partner a fatality in Quiapo blast

Año said the police are looking at the possibility that the bomb attack was intended to kill a Shiite imam, who was not at his office at the time of the explosion.

“We have not seen any connection with the ISIS or Maute because the target there is an imam,” Año said, deferring instead to the Philippine National Police (PNP) tasked to investigate the bombings.

READ: Quiapo blast probe focuses on Shiite imam

“As I’ve said, there are some personalities identified with Abu Sayyaf or Maute but that does not conclude that an ISIS is existing,” Año said.

The string of bomb explosions in Quiapo started when a homemade pipe bomb denoted near the Tower Lodging House on Quezon Boulevard in Quiapo on April 29, on the day the country hosted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Manila. The attack injured 14 people.

The police then ruled out it was a terrorist attack. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had said the first bomb attack was due to a neighborhood feud, although ISIS also claimed the attack.

The police said it was not unusual for the ISIS to take credit for such attacks.

READ: Revenge, not ISIS, behind Quiapo explosion, says Lorenzana