A powerful explosion killed 12 people and wounded at least 24 others at a night market late Friday in President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown in the southern Philippines amid a security alert due to a major offensive against Abu Sayyaf militants in the region, officials said.
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Philippine police have taken into custody a man who may be involved in Sept 2 night’s blast that killed 14 people and injured almost 70 others in the southern city of Davao.
Duterte added that the “state of lawlessness” did not constitute martial law, though it does authorize security forces to conduct searches through the country.
The EU said it prioritizes the tackling of the issue of terrorism “in any form and in any country”.
Duterte, the longtime mayor of Davao City, was elected President in May.
Duterte had been mayor of Davao for most of the past two decades, before winning national elections in a landslide this year and being sworn in as president on June 30.
Duterte’s spokesman said the constitution gives the President the power to “call out. armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion”.
Asked on Thursday about death threats, his spokesman, Ernesto Abella said: “He eats that for breakfast, it’s not something new”.
The cause of the explosion, which happened around 10 p.m. ET Friday, is not known.
“Based on initial investigation, police found a shrapnel from a mortar-based improvised explosive device”, Communication Secretary Martin Andanar said.
But Mr Duterte said investigators were looking at other possible suspects, including drug syndicates, which he has targeted in a bloody crackdown.
Ablan noted that the state of emergency was unofficially in place since the terrorist attack last Saturday, but that it took several days to finalize the language in the declaration.
Duterte will meet Barack Obama at a regional summit in Laos on Tuesday, although he has made it clear he will take no lecture on human rights from the US president.
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President Rodrigo Duterte signed Proclamation No. 55 declaring a State of National Emergency on Account of Lawless Violence in Mindanao before he left for the Asean Summit in Laos Monday, September 5. As regards this appointment, the head of state made sure that he will not admit sermons on the part of the US President, Barack Obama, on human rights, when they meet.
