MANILA: Philippine police named two Filipino members of a pro-Islamic State militant group on Wednesday (Dec 6) as suspects in the deadly bombing of a Catholic mass in the country’s insurgency-plagued south.
Four people were killed and 50 were wounded in Sunday’s attack on worshippers gathered inside a university gym in Marawi, the country’s largest Muslim city, which was besieged by militants in 2017.
The Islamic State group claimed the bombing, which President Ferdinand Marcos blamed on “foreign terrorists”.
Police said previously they were chasing four men in connection with the assault, which the military has described as a possible revenge attack for their operations against militant groups in the region.
The two suspects named on Wednesday – Kadapi Mimbesa and Arsani Membisa – belonged to the Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute group, police regional director Brigadier General Allan Nobleza told a news conference.
A third man, still unidentified, acted as a lookout for the attackers, Nobleza said.
“We are mobilising all our resources to ensure that the perpetrators are put behind bars so they can answer the crimes that they have committed,” Nobleza told reporters.
Source: CNA
