The Philippine Army has identified the two suspected suicide bombers behind the twin bombings in Jolo, Sulu on Monday.
According to Philippine Army Chief Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana, the suicide bombers are Nanah from Basilan who is the wife of Norman Lasuca, the first Filipino suicide bomber, and Inda Nay from Tawi-Tawi. wife of Abu Tallha, an alleged ISIS Liaison of the Abu Sayyaf who was killed in an encounter.
However, the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) clarified that the two widows are only considered as suspects since their bodies will still undergo DNA testing.
“The two female suicide bombers are the same targets being tracked by the group of Major Indammog before they were killed by policemen on June 29, 2020.”
According to Lt. Gen. Sobejana, the team were part of the Army Intelligence Officers who were killed by cops in the Jolo, Sulu shooting incident.
The investigation of the twin bombings is still ongoing.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Archie Gamboa has tasked the Philippine Bomb Data Center and PNP Crime Laboratory to give technical support to the investigation to identify the bomb signature of the explosive devices and the group behind it.
“Any specific bomb signature that will be determined from the technical analysis will be compared with known bomb signatures from previous incidents that are stored in the PBDC database to possibly identify the person or group to whom the bomb signature can be associated with,” Gen. Gamboa has explained.
The military has initially stated that the Abu Sayyaf is its main suspect. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has already declared the responsibilty for the bombings.
According to the PA Chief,
“The Abu Sayyaf Group is no different from them.” – Report from Bea Bernardo
