ISIS involvement in Basilan bombing unconfirmed, won’t be discounted —AFP

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Colonel Edgard Arevalo on Wednesday confirmed that the bombing in Basilan on Tuesday has yet to show any connection to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

However, the AFP will not discount the possibility of the involvement of the group in the bombing that took the lives of 10 people, Arevalo said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV.

"Napakadali po sakyan ng anumang grupo na sila ang responsable diyan lalo na kung talagang grupo (nila) sapagkat ika nga po, pogi points po 'yan sa kanila," he said.

"Sa ngayon po, wala po tayong indikasyon na 'yan ay ISIS. Subalit, sinasabi po natin, we are not discounting that possibility. Nandun rin po yan, within the realm of possibility," Arevalo continued.

LIVE sa DZBB: Col. @atty_edarevalo, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Spokesman kaugnay ng pagsabog ng van sa isang checkpoint sa Lamitan City, Basilan kahapon.

Audio stream: https://t.co/CaqsfpiG7w pic.twitter.com/TfxIVxDB4P

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) July 31, 2018

This is in contrast to ISIS laying claim on the incident that took place in Lamitan, Basilan, homebase of Islamic State's Southeast Asian "emir" Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon until his death in a final assault by AFP troops in the battle of Marawi.

“Any terrorist group or organization can conveniently claim responsibility and ride on the incident for their own glorification. Jumping into it will be like aiding their narrative and lending themselves (the people) as instruments of terrorists’ propaganda," the Armed Forces of the Philippines said in a statement sent by Arevalo to reporters.

Arevalo, however, noted that the Abu Sayyaf remains the biggest suspects in the bombing that killed 11 people, including the suspected bomber, a soldier, four militiamen, and four civilians.

"Yan po ang indikasyon na nakita namin as of yesterday na kumbaga ang signature po niyan or ang merong interest na magawa 'yang pag-atake na 'yan o pagpapasabog na 'yan ay ang grupo ng Abu Sayyaf," Arevalo said in the radio interview

"Nevertheless, we are not  discounting the possibility that they (ISIS) are indeed responsible—just as there is also a possibility that other group besides the Abu Sayyaf Group could be responsible in that dastardly and cowardly terrorist act," the AFP statement read.

There was also a possibility that "peace spoilers" were behind the attack.

"Binabanggit ng iba, posibleng grupo naman na kontra sa pag-i-implement ng Bangsamoro Organic Law," Arevalo noted.

He stressed that the bombing at a military checkpoint in Lamitan City, Basilan was not a case of suicide bombing, something which Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman suspected in an earlier interview.

Others were wounded in the attack that was initially attributed to the group of Abu Sayyaf sub-commander Furiji Indama.

Arevalo told a news conference that Indama's group supposedly bombed the checkpoint because they were losing ground in the area.

Basilan is the stronghold of the local terror group Abu Sayyaf, a group primarily known for taking hostages and beheading Western captives if their demands for ransom are not paid. —Rie Takumi/KG, GMA News