2 remaining suicide bombers in Sulu — Sobejana

The two alleged suicide bombers who are still being hunted by government security forces are in Sulu, according to Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana on Tuesday.

"Intensified 'yung ating operation sa mga ginagawa nila pero dito 'yung ano, dito lang ito nakafocus sa ano... isolated lang naman to dito sa Sulu," Sobejana said.

The Westmincom chief is confident the two suicide bombers will not be able to bring atrocities in other areas since, according to Sobejana, they do not have any support outside the province.

"Hindi namin palalabasin ito kasi medyo mahirap na magkaroon kasi ng opportunity in other areas, but ang kagandahan nito, wala silang support outside Sulu kaya I think they cannot launch hostilities, binabantayan naman din natin ng husto itong pwede nilang magiging outlet," Sobejana said.

He said the military cannot determine yet the nationalities of the remaining suicide bombers.

Sobejana added that military installations could also be the target of these two suicide bombers: "Nakikita ko military installations 'yung ano nila... so talagang gusto nilang gumanti dahil malaki ang setback nila with our relentless focused military operations."

On Monday, Sobejana noted that based on their intelligence information there were five suicide bombers, three of whom have blown themselves up.

These include Norman Lasuca, the first Filipino suicide bomber who was involved in the explosion inside a military camp in Indanan last June and the other bomber who was still unidentified by the military.

The third one was the female suicide bomber who had failed to attack the military detachment in Indanan on Sunday. Sobejana had said the woman suicide bomber was Caucasian-looking.

A DNA testing will determine the identity of the female suicide bomber, who was the lone fatality in the thwarted attack at the KM3 Detachment of the 35th Infantry Battalion on Sunday afternoon.

Philippine National Police chief Police General Oscar Albayalde said it would take three days to one week for the result of the DNA test on the samples of the remains of the female suicide bomber to come out.

"'Yung result will be coming out probably three days to one week usually ang hintayan but then again wala pa rin tayong sample na puwede rin i-compare sa iba," Albayalde said at a separate press briefing.

"That's why we have this continuous police and military operations na 'yung puwede natin maging suspect or kamag-anak nung suspect na puwede natin pagkuhanan ng comparison," he added.

Bombing incidents in Mindanao have occurred despite martial law in the region. The entire Mindanao has been under military rule since May 2017 following the attack of ISIS-inspired Maute group in Marawi City.

It was initially valid only for 60 days, however, President Rodrigo Duterte had requested Congress to extend it thrice. Martial law is due to end on December 31, 2019. — RSJ, GMA News