Police file murder raps vs al Qaeda-linked group over CDO blast

Police have filed multiple murder charges against members of a local armed group believed to have links with the al Qaeda terror network in connection with the deadly July 26 Cagayan de Oro City explosion that killed eight people and wounded 46 others.

 

A statement released by the Philippine National Police on Monday said charges were filed against Usman Hapdis alias Mam man of the Khilafa Islamiyah Mindao (KIM), as well as 29 other members of the group on August 6.

The 29 others were not identified by the police but were charged with multiple murder and malicious mischief.

The complaint was filed before the City Prosecutor's Office, according to Senior Superintendent Eliseo Rasco, chief of the Region 10 Criminal Investigation and Detention Unit. 

 

The police statement also described the KIM as having links with the Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist group operating in Southeast Asia. Authorities have described the JI as also having links with al Qaeda. 

 

Police said Hapdis has 40 members, eight of which are "hard core followers" while 15 have been undergoing Arabic language courses since July this year.

 

Earlier, the police were tight-lipped on the identities of the suspects, only releasing a facial composite of three suspects. 

 

The blast occurred at a busy open-air section of Kyla's bar in the Limketkai Center around 11:30 p.m last July 26. It killed three people on the spot, while five others died in the hospital.

 

The bombing happened a few days before the United States released a global travel warning amidst an intercepted intelligence cable that the al Qaeda is planning terrorist attacks in North Africa and Middle East. 

 

The CDO blast was followed by a car bomb explosion in Cotabato City that killed eight people.

 

Authorities said the blasts were not related to the US terror warning. — with Marc Jayson Cayabyab/RSJ, GMA News