AUTHORITIES have arrested an alleged accomplice in the bombing of a Catholic mass at Mindanao State University in Marawi City on Sunday that killed four people and injured 50 others, the military said Friday.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines identified the suspect as Jafar Gamo Sultan, a.k.a. Jaf/Kurot, who was apprehended on Wednesday in an operation in Barangay Dulay Proper in Marawi.
Also seized by the military are two motorcyles.
Sultan is said to be a companion of a certain Omar, the person identified by witnesses to have placed the improvised explosive device at the Dimaporo Gymnasium.
”This development shows the seriousness of the government in capturing the perpetrators of the terrorist attack on innocent civilians and in ensuring that similar incidents will not happen again. It also demonstrates the AFP’s commitment to its mandate as protector of the people and the state,” the AFP said.
The Islamic State group claimed the bombing, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. blamed on “foreign terrorists.”
Police said previously they were chasing four men in connection with the assault, which the military has described as a possible revenge attack for their operations against militant groups in the region.
The two suspects named on Wednesday—Kadapi Mimbesa and Arsani Membisa—belonged to the Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute group, police regional director Brigadier General Allan Nobleza told a news conference.
“We are mobilizing all our resources to ensure that the perpetrators are put behind bars so they can answer the crimes that they have committed,” he said.
