(Eagle News) — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Friday, Feb. 1, said he was convinced the Jolo, Sulu cathedral attack that left several dead was a case of suicide bombing.
Lorenzana said his statement on who was behind the attack on the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral on Sunday, Jan. 27, was based on the “evidence at hand,” mainly the body parts that were found inside and outside the cathedral.
“According to the forensic investigators of the PNP (Philippine National Police) these body parts could belong to two persons — one inside the church and one outside,” Lorenzana explained.
He said that while the cathedral “was heavily guarded 24 hours daily since August when threats to bomb it surfaced,” bombs “could have been strapped in the body of the bomber and escaped the attention of the soldiers doing the screening.”
Sulu provincial police director Senior Supt. Pablo Labra has said the unclaimed body parts would be subjected to forensics examination.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte said a Yemeni couple was behind the blasts that also hurt several others.
Lorenzana had said that if it was indeed a case of suicide bombing, then the perpetrators could not have been Filipinos based on historical evidence.
Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde had said they were also considering as a suspect the group of alias “Kamah” of the Abu Sayyaf.
