10 killed, 40 wounded in southern Philippine blasts

At least 10 were killed, including a suicide bomber, and 40 others wounded in twin blasts in Sulu province in the southern Philippines on Monday, reported Xinhua, quoting the army.

Western Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan said at least five soldiers and four civilians were killed in the back-to-back blasts, while 18 soldiers and 22 civilians were wounded.

He said that one suicide bomber was also killed in one of the blasts.

Lieutenant Colonel Ronaldo Mateo, the spokesman for the army's 11th infantry division based in Sulu, said a bomb attached to a parked motorcycle exploded at 11:53 a.m. local time in front of a grocery store, while the second blast occurred at 1:00 p.m. local time near the cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province.

"The blasts occurred in a village called Walled City. It's in the center of Jolo," Mateo said.

He said troops were deployed in the area to secure the grocery stores along the busy street, adding that soldiers and policemen were posted in the area daily to maintain peace and order.

He said the motorcycle was parked beside the military truck just outside the store before the bomb detonated. "Two to three minutes after the motorcycle was parked, the improvised explosive device went off," he said.

"The second bomb is believed to have been carried out by a suicide bomber," Mateo added. The military is verifying reports that the second explosion was carried out by a female bomber.

"Most probably these terrorist acts may have been perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf group," Mateo said.

Jolo has long been a base for the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.

Twin blasts also hit the Jolo Cathedral on Jan. 27, 2019, that killed 23 and injured 95.

The Abu Sayyaf group is a loose band of violent extremist groups in the southern Philippines. The group, which has an estimated 400 fighters, is active in the impoverished island provinces of Sulu and Basilan.

The group is responsible for the series of kidnappings, deadly bombings, ambushes of security personnel, public beheadings, assassinations, and extortion in the Mindanao region.

The group has been terrorizing the Philippine southern region since the 1990s, preying on foreign tourists, businessmen, and fishermen not only from the Philippines but also from Indonesia and Malaysia and hide them in Philippine jungles or remote islands.