The prime suspect in the twin blasts that killed 23 people in Jolo, Sulu last Jan. 27 has turned himself in to military authorities, paving the way for the surrender of four other suspects.
Kammah Pae gave himself up to the 35th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army last Saturday and was turned over to the police, according to Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde.
The following day, Kammah’s four cohorts surrendered separately to local police units in Sulu. They are Albaji Kisae Gadjali, his two sons Rajan Bakil and Kaisan Bakil, and Salit Alih.
The Bakil siblings allegedly made the improvised explosive devices which an Indonesian couple detonated inside and outside the Jolo Cathedral, according to the police.
Abu Sayyaf Group sub-leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan and 13 others are being hunted by authorities for their alleged participation in the twin bomb attack.
Senior Supt. Edgar Monsalve, PNP Intelligence Group director, said Kammah is a “senior operative” and “die-hard supporter” of the ASG-affiliated group Ajang-Ajang which is composed mainly of orphaned children of ASG rebels.
Monsalve said Kammah became a member of the Ajang-Ajang Group while he was still a teenager until he became a liaison officer of Sawadjaan.
“Si Kammah ay experienced na Ajang-Ajang na nagsimula as a teenager hanggang naging adult under Sawadjaan. Ngayon, siya na ang inuutusan. Siya ang gumagalaw sa baba, siya lang ang nakaka-akyat sa taas,” Monsalve told reporters in a press briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
According to Chief Supt. Amador Corpus, PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director, the twin blasts at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral were planned for about a year, right after ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon was killed during the Marawi City siege in October 2017.
The plan was put into effect on Jan. 8 when Alih and a certain Arab Puti bought the IED components in a hardware store in Jolo.
On Jan. 24, a foreign couple whom Albayalde said was Indonesian nationals holing up in Lampinigan Island, Isabela City, Basilan sailed to Jolo through a pump boat.
They were picked up by Kammah’s group from a gasoline station in Jolo. The couple and Kammah’s group stayed in different safe houses and even met Sawadjaan at one point before the attack, Albayalde added.
Albayalde said the first IED was detonated by the woman inside the cathedral at 8:28 a.m. Meanwhile, her partner detonated the second IED at the parking area of the cathedral at 8:29 a.m.
“Ang lumalabas dito ay parang mag-asawa na Indonesian because of the witnesses accounts. Itong mga ito ay hindi marunong mag-Tausug at ‘yong salita nila based on our intelligence information ay Malay-Indonesian kaya they assume na ito ay Indonesian,” Albayalde explained.
According to intelligence information, the man had been staying in Mindanao for about a year already while the woman arrived in the area days before the attack.
From fragments and components recovered at the scene, Albayalde said forensic technicians reconstructed two detonated IEDs made from common Galvanized Iron pipes that served as casings which possibly contained ammonium nitrate-fuel oil compound as primary explosive charge and boosted by a secondary explosive.
“This particular type of IED, by design, is identified with the Abu Sayyaf Group as nine similar IEDs have been involved in at least five recent incidents in Basilan and Sulu in 2016 and 2017,” Albayalde revealed.
One incident, he said, was an IED which was detonated on Scott Road, Barangay San Raymundo, Jolo on March 12, 2017.
Two IEDs with similar composition were also detonated by the ASG in Lamitan City, Basilan on March 19 and 20, 2017. Four more similar IEDs were defused by the military in Barangay Magcawa, Al-Barka, Basilan on May 20, 2016.
“The signature of the Abu Sayyaf Group, therefore, is patently present in the IED used in this latest terror attack in Jolo,” Albayalde said.
Albayalde also noted the Indonesian couple’s commitment to carry out the attack.
“Based on our intelligence gathering, parang talagang ‘yan ang trabaho nila – suicide bombing, and they took the opportunity. ‘Yan talaga ang purpose niya kung bakit siya nandito,” he said.
Kammah and his four cohorts are part of the 22-member terror group led by Sawadjaan who are believed to be behind the twin explosions, Albayalde said.
Meanwhile, another Ajang-Ajang Group member identified as Ommal Yusop, 62, was gunned down by security forces in a manhunt operation in Patikul, Sulu on Tuesday.
Kammah and his four cohorts were placed under the custody of the Special Investigation Task Group Mount Carmel in Jolo.
A case for multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder would be filed against the five suspects before the Sulu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office on Monday, Albayalde said. (Martin Sadongdong)
