MANILA, Philippines (AP) – President Rodrigo Duterte and his top security officials on Monday visited a Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines where suspected Islamic militants set off bombs that killed 20 people and wounded more than 100.
The first blast sent people, some of them wounded, fleeing out the church’s main door. Army troops and police were rushing inside when the second bomb exploded a minute later. The explosions scattered wooden pews inside the main hall, blasted out window glass panels and hurled human remains and debris across a town square fronting the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, witnesses said.
The attack occurred in the Sulu provincial capital on Jolo island, where Abu Sayyaf militants have carried out years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings and have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
Duterte walked slowly into the bombed cathedral, where the wooden pews were still in disarray. At one point he looked at the ceiling, where many panels were ripped off by the blasts.
Duterte ordered the armed forces to crush the Abu Sayyaf. The group has an estimated 300 to 400 members, mostly in Sulu where it is holding several foreign and Filipino kidnap victims.
Duterte later met with families of the victims at a military camp in Jolo where coffins were laid side by side.
In this photo provided by Malacanang Palace, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, condoles with relatives of bombing victims during his visit Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, a day after two bombs exploded at a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu province in southern Philippines. The attack occurred during a Sunday Mass in the Sulu provincial capital on Jolo island, where Abu Sayyaf militants have carried out years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings and have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the attack. (Malacanang Palace via AP)
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who was with the president, blamed the attack on Abu Sayyaf commander Hatib Sawadjaan, who he said has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
“This is an act of terrorism,” Lorenzana said. “This is not a religious war.”
Sawadjaan is based in the jungles of Patikul town, near Jolo, and has been blamed for ransom kidnappings and beheadings of hostages, including two Canadian men, in recent years.
Police put forces around the country on heightened alert to prevent similar attacks.
The bombings came nearly a week after minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation endorsed a new autonomous region in the southern Philippines in hopes of ending nearly five decades of a separatist rebellion that has left 150,000 people dead. Although most Muslim areas approved the autonomy deal, voters in Sulu province rejected it. The province is home to a rival rebel faction that is opposed to the deal as well as smaller militant cells that are not part of any peace process.
A statement by the Islamic State group posted on social media claimed the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers who wore explosive belts, one detonating at the gate and the other in the parking lot.
Police said at least 20 people died and 111 were wounded. The fatalities were 15 civilians and five troops. Among the wounded, about 90 are civilians.
The United Nations and others denounced the attack. The U.N. Security Council late Monday condemned “the heinous and cowardly” attack and “underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors” of the attacks accountable.
Western governments have welcomed the autonomy pact in part to ease concerns that Filipino militants could ally themselves with foreigners and turn the southern region into a breeding ground for extremists.
Aside from Abu Sayyaf, other militant groups in Sulu include a small band of young jihadis aligned with the Islamic State group.
Government forces have pressed on sporadic offensives to crush the militants, and Duterte has extended martial law in the entire southern third of the country to allow troops to finish off radical Muslim groups and other insurgents, but bombings and other attacks have continued.
In this photo provided by Malacanang Palace, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center wearing a cap, inspects a Roman Catholic Cathedral on Jolo, Sulu province in southern Philippines, Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, a day after two bombs exploded during a Sunday Mass. The attack occurred in the Sulu provincial capital on Jolo island, where Abu Sayyaf militants have carried out years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings and have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the attack.(Malacanang Palace Via AP)
In this photo provided by Malacanang Palace, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, touches one of the caskets of victims of Sunday’s bombings of a Roman Catholic Cathedral on Jolo, Sulu province in southern Philippines, during his visit Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. The attack occurred in the Sulu provincial capital on Jolo island, where Abu Sayyaf militants have carried out years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings and have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the attack.(Malacanang Palace Via AP)
Police investigators examine the site after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in southern Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 80 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said. (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)
Soldiers examine the site after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in southern Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 80 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said. (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)
Police remove a body of a victim from the scene after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in southern Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 80 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said. (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)
Soldiers attend the scene after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in southern Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 80 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said. (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)
Police investigators and soldiers attend the scene after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in southern Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 80 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said. (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)
Police investigators and soldiers attend the scene after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in southern Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 80 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said. (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)
Police investigators and soldiers attend the scene after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in southern Philippines, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 80 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said. (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)
In this photo provided by WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines, bomb victims receive treatment in a hospital after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in southern Philippines where militants are active Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. The Philippine government says it will “pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators” behind bomb attacks that killed over a dozen people and wounded many more during a Sunday Mass at a cathedral on the restive southern island. (WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines Via AP)
In this photo provided by WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines, bomb victims receive treatment in a hospital after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in southern Philippines where militants are active Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. The Philippine government says it will “pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators” behind bomb attacks that killed over a dozen people and wounded many more during a Sunday Mass at a cathedral on the restive southern island. (WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines Via AP)
In this photo provided by WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines, a soldier views the site inside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in the southern Philippines after two bombs exploded Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. The Philippine government says it will “pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators” behind bomb attacks that killed over a dozen people and wounded many more during a Sunday Mass at a cathedral on the restive southern island. (WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines Via AP)
In this photo provided by WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines, soldiers and police cordon off the area after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral (background right) in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in the southern Philippines where militants are active, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. The Philippine government says it will “pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators” behind bomb attacks that killed over a dozen people and wounded many more during a Sunday Mass at a cathedral on the restive southern island. (WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines Via AP)
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