By Edwin Fernandez/PNA
COTABATO CITY — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leadership condemned the Jolo Church bombing and offered to pursue the culprits behind the carnage.
Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MILF peace panel, condemned what he described as a “senseless violence” that resulted in the death of at least 20 people, he said in the MILF online news.
“This criminal act has no place in our civilized society, especially that we are about to reap the fruits of our struggle with the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law,” he said.
During the January 21 plebiscite, majority of the people in Muslim Mindanao voted in favor of the law that will create a new Bangsamoro region with greater autonomy, but Jolo and the entire province of Sulu voted against the proposed measure.
“The MILF is ready to support efforts in the apprehension of the perpetrators of the senseless violence that occurred in a place of worship while people were attending the morning mass,” Iqbal said.
MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim believed the bombing was not connected to the January 21 plebiscite. The whole of Mindanao remains under martial law after Congress approved its extension this year.
