Philippines names members of pro-IS group as bomb suspects

Philippines names members of pro-IS group as bomb suspects

Four people were killed in the explosion during a Catholic Mass at the weekend.

Law enforcers investigate the site of the blast in Marawi on Sunday. (Provincial government of Lanao Del Sur – public information office/AP pic)
MANILA:
Philippine police today named two men suspected of being involved in a deadly blast that killed four during a Catholic Mass in a southern city at the weekend.

Those suspected of orchestrating the attack in Marawi were members of Daulah-Islamiyah Maute, a pro-Islamic State (IS) group that took control of the city in 2017 and held it throughout five months of ground offensives and air strikes by the military.

The suspects were Kadapi Mimbesa, 35, and Arsani Membisa, age undetermined, the police said in a press conference.

Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos Jr had blamed “foreign terrorists” for the explosion.

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