By Agencies
Philippine security forces have set up roadblocks and checkpoints around a southern town where twin bombings claimed by Islamic State killed 20 people and injured more than 110 others.
The lockdown in Jolo town in Sulu province, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, will allow troops to track down the suspects behind Sunday’s bombings at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, said national police chief Oscar Albayalde.
“There is almost no one out in the streets and shops are closed … so we can contain this area,” he said.
“We have set up roadblocks and checkpoints, and we have enough troops on the ground.”
President Rodrigo Duterte and his top security officials are scheduled to visit the church on Monday to visit survivors.
Duterte’s office has vowed earlier to “pursue to the ends of the earth” the perpetrators.
ISIS claimed responsibility hours after the attack, saying it was carried out by two suicide bombers.
The military said it was not discounting the claims, but an initial investigation showed that the bombs were planted at the church and not detonated by suicide bombers, said regional military commander Arnel Dela Vega.
The first bomb exploded inside the cathedral during mass and was believed to have been planted in one of the pews, Dela Vega said, citing a military report.
The second, which was believed to have been left inside a utility box of a motorcycle at the carpark, went off as troops rushed in to respond to the initial blast.
Jolo is a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf, a ISIS-aligned terrorist group blamed for some of the worst bombings and high-profile kidnappings in the Philippines.
