25 August,2020 08:22 AM IST | Manila | Agencies
Soldiers carry bodies at a site of an explosion in Jolo, Sulu province southern Philippines on Monday. Pic/AP
Muslim militants allied with the Islamic State group set off a powerful motorcycle explosive followed by a suicide bombing that together killed 14 people on Monday, many of them soldiers, in the worst extremist attack in the Philippines this year, military officials said.
At least 75 soldiers, police and civilians were wounded in the midday bombings in Jolo town in southern Sulu province, regional military commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan said.
Vinluan said most of the victims, including children, were killed and wounded in the first attack when a bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near two army trucks in front of a grocery store and computer shop in Jolo. "It was a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device which exploded while our soldiers were on a marketing run," Vinluan told reporters.
A second blast, apparently from a female suicide attacker, occurred about an hour later and killed the bomber, a soldier, a police commando and wounded several others, a military report said. It said the suspected bomber walked out of a snack shop, approached soldiers who were securing a Roman Catholic cathedral and 'suddenly blew herself up.'
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Presidential spokesman Harry Roque condemned the bombings 'in the strongest possible terms.' Initial pictures seen by The Associated Press showed soldiers carrying a man from the scene of the explosion while another victim lay on the road. The wreckage of a motorcycle and body parts were seen on the road.
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