Philippines releases photos of suspects in Catholic Mass bombing
Both were caught in CCTV footage.
QUEZON CITY: The Philippine National Police (PNP) have released photos of two suspects in a fatal terrorist bombing of a Catholic Mass held in a university gym in the southern province of Lanao del Sur, it has been reported.
PNP Public Affairs Chief Col. Jean Fajardo identified the two as Kadapi Mimbesa a.k.a. Engineer and Arsani Membisa a.k.a Katab/Papitos, both allegedly members of the pro-Daesh Maute Group.
Four people were killed and 54 others wounded in the attack inside the Mindanao State University (MSU) in Lanao del Sur’s capital city of Marawi on Dec. 3.
"They were identified by the witnesses through the rogue pictures shown to them by police probers, including their attire," the Manila Times quoted Fajardo as saying.
"When police reviewed the footage from the CCTV outside the MSU, we sighted the two suspects at 6:27 a.m. and were seen entering the gymnasium at about 7 a.m. All of those were seen in the enhanced footage."
She said when the two suspects left the gymnasium, one of them pulled out his cell phone as if to make a call, then the explosion followed.
"[In the footage] before the explosion, they can be seen leaving the MSU, and one of the persons of interest appears to be making a call using his cell phone that might have triggered the explosion," Fajardo was quoted as saying. "Immediately after the explosion, the suspects left the MSU."
In the same footage, Fajardo said Mimbesa was carrying a bag believed to be where the explosive was concealed.
Both suspects have standing arrest warrants for murder, kidnapping and illegal possession of explosives.
Investigators matched signatures from the 60mm mortar fragments recovered from the blast site to that of bombs the terrorist group used in previous attacks in Mindanao, the Manila Times reported further.
Earlier, Philippine authorities said they were identifying a spotter working with the duo, while the nation’s president and defence secretary earlier said without elaborating that foreign terrorists were involved in the attack.
Apparently, the two named suspects were Filipinos, raising the question whether the alleged foreigners’ involvement in the attack was in aspects other than carrying and planting the bomb the two carried out.
Philippine authorities also said they were looking into whether the bombing was in retaliation to the Philippine military’s assaults that killed three leaders of three different pro-Daesh groups including Maute.
The Maute Group along with the Abu Sayyaf Group laid siege on Marawi City in 2017 in Daesh’s bid to carve out territory for the Southeast Asia chapter of the Middle Eastern terror group.
Over 1,200 people, mostly militants, were killed in the five-month urban battle before government forces liberated the city in October of that year.