Philippine Explosion: Bomb Outside Shopping Center Kills 2, Wounds 28

Local Editor

A crude bomb, blamed by security forces on a small pro-Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”] militant group, killed two people and wounded dozens on Monday in the southern Philippines, an army commander said.

Takfiri militants operate in the south of the largely Christian Asian country and some are known to have links with groups abroad, including al-Qaeda and the Wahhabi Daesh.

Major General Cirilito Sobejana, an army division commander, told Reuters the bomb bore a “Daesh-inspired signature”.

The bomb went off at the entrance to a shopping mall in the city of Cotabato in the early afternoon. As well as the two people killed, 28 were wounded, he said.

A second bomb was recovered in the same area, he said.

Sobejana said he suspected the blast was retaliation for the killing by army troops of seven members of a small militant group that has pledged allegiance to Daesh.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team