Philippine authorities yesterday blamed Muslim militants for the bombing of a night market in Davao City that killed at least 14 people.
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In 2003, Arroyo placed Davao City under a “state of lawlessness” after successive attacks on the worldwide airport and Sasa wharf left over two dozen people killed.
“We have to confront the ugly head of terrorism”, Duterte said Friday, standing near the explosion site in his hometown. “These are extraordinary times and I supposed that I’m authorized to allow the security forces of this country to do searches”, Duterte told reporters at the crime scene.
The bomb was likely to have been planted by Abu Sayyaf, he said, to divert the military’s attention from its operations to flush them out of their strongholds on the islands of Basilan and Jolo.
Philippine’s National Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said he “assumes” the attack was carried out by the Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf.
Police in the Philippines are looking for a man and two women they want to question in connection with the blast at a crowded market in Davao City that killed 14 people.
“I have talked to the higher officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)”. There is no declaration of martial law.
President Duterte declared on Saturday a “state of lawlessness” in the country after the explosion.
Duterte had been mayor of Davao for most of the past two decades, before winning presidential elections in a landslide in May and being sworn in on June 30.
Analysts said that Duterte’s declaration also could abet his brutal – and intensifying – “war on drugs”, which has killed almost 2,000 suspected drug users and pushers since he took office June 30.
The explosion went off at about 10.30 p.m. outside the Marco Polo hotel, a place Duterte visits often and used for meetings during a campaign for a May election that he won by a huge margin. Critics are alarmed at the number whose deaths have been attributed to vigilantes, and the president and police chief’s apparent support for the extrajudicial killings.
President Rodrigo Duterte issued this grim warning to the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group as he sought for understanding from Filipinos here regarding his ruthless take-no-prisoner strategy against criminality and the narcotics trade.
Some 7,000 soldiers are now pursuing the Abu Sayyaf.
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The White House offered condolences and assistance to the Philippines, a key regional ally. The decree of national emergency was signed by Duterte shortly before setting off towards Lao to take part in the summit of the Association of Nations of the Asian Southeast (Adorn).
