(Eagle News)–At least 19 people were killed after blasts at a cathedral in Jolo town in Sulu on Sunday, Jan. 27.
Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said 19, mostly soldiers, were killed and 48 others were also injured after the explosions hit Marian Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
He said one explosion ripped through the cathedral itself first around 8:30 a.m., and then another took place in the parking lot.
A Catholic mass was ongoing at that time.
“The motive is surely… terrorism. These are people who do not want peace. It is sad that this happened right after the Bangsamoro law was ratified,” Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, regional military spokesperson, said.
Jolo lies in the proposed Bangsamoro Muslim-majority autonomous region, which local voters overwhelmingly approved last week.
The island is also a base of the Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf, which is blamed for the worst terror attacks in the nation’s history.
Last week voters decisively approved a more powerful autonomous region in the Philippines’ south, which is hoped will bring peace and development after decades of fighting that have killed thousands and mired the area in poverty.
Sulu province — which includes Jolo — voted against the creation of the new region, with its governor questioning the law establishing the area before the Supreme Court.
Despite Sulu’s vote, legislation provides that the province will still be included in the new political entity as voters from across the current autonomous region voted in favor of it on the whole.
President Rodrigo Duterte had vouched for the ratification, saying the BOL, which aims to replace the ARMM with a more autonomous Bangsamoro, was the only solution to the problems in Mindanao. With a report from Agence France Presse