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MANILA — A "massive" manhunt is underway for the attackers who bombed a Catholic Mass that killed four people in the southern Philippines, a senior military officer said on Monday (Dec 4), vowing to do everything possible to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Police are looking into at least two suspects they believe were behind the blast, which Islamic State militants claimed.
"As we speak, there's an ongoing massive operation to hunt these terrorist groups or suspected perpetrators of the bombing," William Gonzales, Western Mindanao Command chief, told reporters after a security meeting in Marawi city.
The bomb went off on Sunday during a service at a university gymnasium in Marawi, a city left in ruins in 2017 by a five-month military campaign to end an occupation by Islamic State loyalists that had triggered alarm across Asia.
"(We have persons) of interest, but the investigation is still ongoing. In order not to preempt the investigation, we will not divulge the names," regional police chief Allan Nobleza told GMA News, adding that one of the suspects was linked to a local militant group.
The US condemned the "horrific terrorist attack" and said it stood with Filipinos in rejecting violence, joining a chorus of support from countries including Japan, Australia, Britain, China and Canada.
"We mourn those killed in the attack, and our thoughts are with the injured," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in statement.
Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the bombing at Mindanao State University, shortly after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said "foreign terrorists" were responsible.
Marawi is in an area known as Bangsamoro, an underdeveloped Muslim region in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, that has for decades battled with lawlessness, separatist violence and clan conflicts, prompting concern that it could become fertile ground for extremism.
Military chief Romeo Brawner, who attended a security briefing with troops and police in Marawi, said he suspected the bombing could be a retaliatory attack for operations against local extremist groups in the southern region of Mindanao.
"That could be one of the strong possibilities why this occurred," Brawner said. "Your security forces...are working doubly hard to make sure that the perpetrators of this terrorist attack will be brought to justice."
The military recently said it had killed a senior operative from Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for kidnapping and piracy that has aligned itself with the Islamic State.
Abu Sayyaf's late leader, Isnilon Hapilon, was Islamic State's anointed "emir" in Southeast Asia and mastermind of the 2017 occupation of Marawi, which led to the deaths of more than 1,000 people during a five-month war, among them fighters from multiple countries. Hapilon was killed by a sniper.
The military said it had also conducted two operations in Mindanao on Friday and Sunday against Dawlah Islamiya-Maute, a group that joined Hapilon in taking over Marawi in 2017, seeking to turn it into a Southeast Asian "wilayat" – or governorate – for Islamic State.
Spokesperson Xerxes Trinidad said the military was trying to validate it Islamic State's claim of responsibility.
Of the 54 who were wounded in the bombing, Trinidad said only seven remained in hospital.
Classes resumed in Marawi on Monday, but with tighter security.
Source: Reuters
菲律宾爆炸案：军方称正在搜捕嫌疑人
马尼拉——一名高级军官周一（12 月 4 日）表示，正在对菲律宾南部天主教弥撒炸弹袭击事件的袭击者进行“大规模”搜捕，该袭击事件造成四人死亡，并誓言将尽一切可能将肇事者绳之以法。
警方正在调查至少两名嫌疑人，他们认为这起爆炸是伊斯兰国武装分子声称的幕后黑手。
西棉兰老司令部司令威廉·冈萨雷斯在马拉维市举行安全会议后对记者表示：“正如我们所说，大规模行动正在进行中，以追捕这些恐怖组织或爆炸嫌疑人。”
周日，这枚炸弹在马拉维一所大学体育馆举行的仪式上爆炸。2017 年，为结束伊斯兰国忠诚分子占领而进行的为期五个月的军事行动使这座城市成为一片废墟，这场军事行动引发了整个亚洲的恐慌。
地区警察局长艾伦·诺布莱扎 (Allan Nobleza) 告诉 GMA 新闻：“（我们有）感兴趣的人，但调查仍在进行中。为了不抢先调查，我们不会透露姓名。”他补充说，其中一名嫌疑人与 当地的一个激进组织
美国谴责这起“可怕的恐怖袭击”，并表示与菲律宾人站在一起，拒绝暴力，并与日本、澳大利亚、英国、中国和加拿大等国一起表示支持。
美国国务院发言人马修·米勒在声明中表示：“我们哀悼在袭击中丧生的人，我们与受伤者同在。”
就在菲律宾总统小费迪南德·马科斯称“外国恐怖分子”对此负责后不久，“伊斯兰国”武装分子声称对棉兰老岛州立大学爆炸事件负责。
马拉维所在的邦萨摩罗地区是天主教徒占主导地位的菲律宾的一个欠发达的穆斯林地区，几十年来，该地区一直与无法无天、分裂主义暴力和部族冲突作斗争，引发人们担心它可能成为极端主义的沃土。
军事首长罗密欧·布劳纳在马拉维与部队和警察一起参加了安全简报会，他表示，他怀疑这起爆炸事件可能是针对棉兰老岛南部地区当地极端主义团体的行动的报复性袭击。
布劳纳说：“这可能是发生这种情况的最有可能的原因之一。” “你们的安全部队……正在加倍努力，确保将这次恐怖袭击的肇事者绳之以法。”
军方最近表示，它杀死了阿布沙耶夫组织的一名高级特工，该组织因绑架和海盗活动而臭名昭著，与伊斯兰国结盟。
阿布沙耶夫已故领导人伊斯尼隆·哈皮隆 (Isnilon Hapilon) 是伊斯兰国在东南亚指定的“埃米尔”，也是 2017 年占领马拉维的策划者，这场占领导致 1,000 多人在长达 5 个月的战争中死亡，其中包括来自多个国家的战士 。 哈皮隆被狙击手杀死。
军方表示，周五和周日还在棉兰老岛针对 Dawlah Islamiya-Maute 开展了两次行动，该组织与哈皮隆一起于 2017 年接管马拉维，试图将其变成东南亚的伊斯兰“省”。 状态。
发言人薛西斯·特立尼达表示，军方正在试图证实伊斯兰国声称对此负责。
特立尼达表示，在爆炸中受伤的 54 人中，只有 7 人仍在医院。
马拉维周一恢复上课，但安全措施更加严格。
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