PHOTOS of the bodies of the three suspected suicide bombers were released by the military Tuesday, November 5, 2019.
Government troops, acting on an intelligence report about another bomb attack plot in Sulu, killed three suspected suicide bombers — two of them are reportedly Egyptians — in a five-minute firefight in Indanan town Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commanding general of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, said the operation was launched based on a validated intelligence report on another planned suicide bombing in Sulu.
At around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, soldiers set up a checkpoint in Sitio Utawon in Barangay Kan Islam and intercepted a motorcycle.
“We acted on a case build-up on a reported bombing attack in Jolo. There was a brief firefight when they were intercepted,” said Sobejana.
Sobejana said that it was the suspected bombers who fired the first shot. The gunfight lasted for five minutes.
He identified two of the fatalities as Abduramil and his son Abdurahman. They are reportedly Egyptians.
Seized from them were two bomb vests, a .45-caliber pistol, and a grenade.
“The two foreign terrorists are father and son,” said Sobejana.
“We are checking their relation to the female suicide bomber which launched an attack on a military camp,” said Sobejana.
He is referring to the suicide bombing attack near the entrance of the camp of the 35th Infantry Battalion in Indanan town.
The military has intensified the security operations in Sulu and nearby areas after the suicide bombing attack on a Catholic church in Jolo that left more than 20 people dead and more or less 100 churchgoers and security forces injured early this year.
In July this year, a first case of Filipino suicide bomber was reported in the attack in a military camp also in Sulu that left eight people, including three soldiers, dead. (Aaron Recuenco)
