Davao, Philippines: Philippine police blamed Islamic State-linked rebels on Saturday for a bombing that killed 14 people in President Rodrigo Duterte’s home town and dealt a blow to the firebrand leader’s bloody crackdown on narcotics and militancy.
Investigators said that Abu Sayyaf, a southern Philippine group notorious for acts of piracy, kidnappings and beheadings, had claimed responsibility for Friday’s night bombing at a Davao street market, although police said they were still trying to authenticate the claim.
The attack rattled the normally peaceful city, where Duterte typically spends his weekends, some 600 miles from the capital, Manila. He was in Davao at the time of the bombing but far from the site of the blast, which occurred outside a hotel where he often holds meetings.
The national police chief, Ronald Dela Rosa, said that the bomb was homemade and that fragments of a mortar round were found at the site, where two “persons of interest” had been caught on camera. He said that the bomb was likely to have been planted by Abu Sayyaf in an effort to divert the military’s attention from its operations to flush the militants out of their strongholds on the islands of Basilan and Jolo. The military on Tuesday agreed to deploy a further 2,500 troops to carry out Duterte’s order to “destroy” Abu Sayyaf.
Duterte on Saturday canceled what would have been his first overseas visit as president, to Brunei, and declared a nationwide “state of lawlessness” to deal with what he said was an extraordinary security situation.
“I must declare a state of lawless violence in this country,” Duterte told reporters after visiting the blast site, where he assured the public that martial law had not been imposed.
“I have this duty to protect this country,” he said.
The bombing came as the abrasive former prosecutor wages war on narcotics kingpins and street dealers, Islamist rebels, and corrupt bureaucrats and scores big points in opinion polls - but at the risk of making powerful enemies.
Rumors have swirled of a plot to assassinate Duterte, 71, a danger that he has shrugged off as part of his job.
Duterte was elected by a huge margin but was condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations. More than 2,000 alleged drug dealers and users have been killed since Duterte’s June 30 inauguration. Critics are alarmed at the number whose deaths have been attributed to vigilantes, and the president and police chief’s apparent support for the extrajudicial killings.
Abu Sayyaf, which means “bearer of the sword”, has previously used an Islamic State flag in some of its propaganda videos and runs what is among Asia’s most lucrative kidnapping rackets. This year, it has decapitated two Canadian hostages and held Norwegian, Indonesian, Malaysian and Japanese citizens.
The group has long been a thorn in the side of the military and has used its ransom earnings to entrench its network and invest in modern weapons, boats and radar technology.
Investigators said that Abu Sayyaf, a southern Philippine group notorious for acts of piracy, kidnappings and beheadings, had claimed responsibility for Friday’s night bombing at a Davao street market, although police said they were still trying to authenticate the claim.
The attack rattled the normally peaceful city, where Duterte typically spends his weekends, some 600 miles from the capital, Manila. He was in Davao at the time of the bombing but far from the site of the blast, which occurred outside a hotel where he often holds meetings.
The national police chief, Ronald Dela Rosa, said that the bomb was homemade and that fragments of a mortar round were found at the site, where two “persons of interest” had been caught on camera. He said that the bomb was likely to have been planted by Abu Sayyaf in an effort to divert the military’s attention from its operations to flush the militants out of their strongholds on the islands of Basilan and Jolo. The military on Tuesday agreed to deploy a further 2,500 troops to carry out Duterte’s order to “destroy” Abu Sayyaf.
Duterte on Saturday canceled what would have been his first overseas visit as president, to Brunei, and declared a nationwide “state of lawlessness” to deal with what he said was an extraordinary security situation.
“I must declare a state of lawless violence in this country,” Duterte told reporters after visiting the blast site, where he assured the public that martial law had not been imposed.
“I have this duty to protect this country,” he said.
The bombing came as the abrasive former prosecutor wages war on narcotics kingpins and street dealers, Islamist rebels, and corrupt bureaucrats and scores big points in opinion polls - but at the risk of making powerful enemies.
Rumors have swirled of a plot to assassinate Duterte, 71, a danger that he has shrugged off as part of his job.
Duterte was elected by a huge margin but was condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations. More than 2,000 alleged drug dealers and users have been killed since Duterte’s June 30 inauguration. Critics are alarmed at the number whose deaths have been attributed to vigilantes, and the president and police chief’s apparent support for the extrajudicial killings.
Abu Sayyaf, which means “bearer of the sword”, has previously used an Islamic State flag in some of its propaganda videos and runs what is among Asia’s most lucrative kidnapping rackets. This year, it has decapitated two Canadian hostages and held Norwegian, Indonesian, Malaysian and Japanese citizens.
The group has long been a thorn in the side of the military and has used its ransom earnings to entrench its network and invest in modern weapons, boats and radar technology.